THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


-*tU-,  , 


"THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 
TO  THE  PEOPLE" 


<^    ^^^-  O     ^       >m 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

NEW  YORK  •    BOSTON   •    CHICAGO 
DALLAS   •    ATLANTA   •    SAN  FRANCISCO 

MACMILLAN  &  CO..  Limited 

LONDON   •    BOMBAY   •    CALCUTTA 
MELBOURNE 

THE  MACMILLAN  CO.  OF  CANADA,  Ltd. 

TORONTO 


(( 


The  Future  Belongs 
to  the  People" 

BY 

KARL  LIEBKNECHT 

(Speeches  made  since  the  beginning  of  the  War) 


EDITED  AND  TRANSLATED  BY 

S.  ZIMAND 


WITH  AN  INTRODUCTION 

By  WALTER  WEYL 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
1918 

All  rights  reserved 


Copyright,  1918 

By  the  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 
Set  up  and  Electrotyped.    Published,  November  26,  1918 


Press  of  J.  J.  Little  &  Ives  Co.,  New  York 


b6  L^Äu 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface  by  Walter  E.  Weyl 9 

Introduction 14 

The  Man  Liebknecht 21 

The  First  Days 25 

Liebknecht's  Visit  to  Belgium 27 

Did  Not  Cheer  the  Kaiser 29 

Liebknecht  Disapproves  of  the  Majority  Socialists  of 

Germany 30 

The  Reichstag  Meeting  of  Dec.  2,  1914 31 

Liebknecht  Condemned  by  His  Party 34 

A  New  Year's  Greeting  to  England 36 

Speech  Delivered  at  the  War  Meeting  of  the  Prussian 

Assembly,  Mar.  2,  1915 40 

In  Defence  of  Rosa  Luxemburg 53 

Liebknecht  Called  to  Army  Service 61 

Liebknecht  Questions  the  Government 62 

Liebknecht  Expelled  from  Social  Democratic  Party  .  74 

Reichstag  Discussion  about  the  Censorship       ...  75 

Justice  in  Germany  in  War  Time 76 

The  Situation  in  Austria 98 

Education  in  Germany  in  War  Time 100 

5 


6  CONTENTS 

PAGB 

Liebknecht  Protests  at  Being  Prevented  from  Dis- 
cussing THE  Submarine  Warfare 113 

Reichstag  Meeting  of  March  23,  1916 115 

Liebknecht's  Comments  on  the  Imperial  Chancellor's 

Speech,  April  5,  1916 116 

Reichstag  Meeting,  April  7,  1916 118 

Liebknecht's   Remarks   on   the   German  War   Loan, 

Reichstag  Meeting,  April  8,  1916 123 

Liebknecht's  May  Day  Manifesto 126 

Liebknecht's  May  Day  19 16  Speech 128 

Liebknecht's  Reply  to  His  Judges 137 

Liebknecht's  Trial  and  Release 143 


"The  aim  of  my  life  is  the  overthrow  of  monarchy. 
As  my  father,  who  appeared  before  this  court  ex- 
actly thirty-five  years  ago  to  defend  himself  against 
the  charge  of  treason,  was  ultimately  pronounced 
victor,  so  I  believe  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when 
the  principles  which  I  represent  will  be  recognized 
as  patriotic,  as  honorable,  as  true." 

Karl  Liebknecht. 


PREFACE 

The  philosophy  of  Karl  Liebknecht  as  revealed 
in  these  pages  leaves  but  a  narrow  ledge  for  heroes 
to  stand  on.  To  him  the  significant  thing  in  history 
is,  and  has  always  been,  the  stirring  of  the  masses 
of  men  at  the  bottom,  their  unconscious  writhings, 
their  awakenings,  their  conscious  struggles  and  finally 
their  gigantic,  fearsome  upthrust,  which  overturns 
all  the  little  groups  of  clever  men  who  have  lived  by 
holding  these  masses  down.  In  these  conflicts,  kings, 
priests,  leaders,  heroes  count  for  no  more  than  flags 
or  flying  pennants.  All  great  leaders,  Caesar,  Maho- 
met, Luther,  Napoleon,  are  instruments  of  popular 
movements,  or  at  best  manuscripts  upon  which  the 
messages  of  their  class  and  age  have  been  written. 

To  Liebknecht  all  that  Carlyle  has  said  about 
heroes  is  contrary  to  ideology  and  inversion  of  the 
truth.  "As  I  take  it,"  writes  Carlyle,  "Universal 
History,  the  history  of  what  man  has  accomplished 
in  this  world,  is  at  bottom  the  History  of  the  Great 
Men  who  have  worked  there.  They  were  the  leaders 
of  men,  these  great  ones ;  the  modellers,  patterns,  and 
in  a  wide  sense  creators,  of  whatsoever  the  general 
mass  of  men  contrived  to  do  or  to  attain;  all  things 
that  we  see  standing  and  accomplished  in  the  world 
are  properly  the  outward  material  result,  the  prac- 

9 


10  PREFACE 

tical  realization  and  embodiment  of  Thoughts  that 
dwelt  in  the  Great  Men  sent  into  the  world:  the  soul 
of  the  whole  world's  history,  it  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered, were  the  history  of  these." 

Look  at  what  is  happening  in  Germany  to-day 
and  test,  as  best  we  may,  these  two  confronting 
theories  concerning  the  influence  of  great  men  upon 
history.  As  I  write  Germany  is  in  the  throes  of 
revolution.  The  immensely  powerful  HohenzoUern 
monarchy  has  fallen,  the  brave,  stubborn,  modern- 
witted,  money-bolstered  aristocracy  is  shattered,  and 
a  proscribed  poor  man,  Karl  Liebknecht,  is  loudly 
acclaimed.  Was  it  one  man,  a  Foch,  a  Wilson,  a 
Lenin  or  a  Liebknecht  that  overturned  this  mighty 
structure,  or  was  it  the  movement  of  a  hundred  mil- 
lion men  and  women,  armed  and  unarmed,  on  the 
battle-field  and  in  the  factory,  in  France  and  Eng- 
land and  Russia  and  Germany?  What  could  Lieb- 
knecht alone  have  done  with  all  his  ringing  eloquence 
and  all  his  superb,  I  almost  said,  sublime  heroism? 
Clearly  we  must  rule  Carlyle  out  of  the  controversy 
and  agree  with  Liebknecht,  the  Socialist,  that  Lieb- 
knecht, the  hero,  had  little  to  do  with  this  vast  sub- 
version. 

Yet,  as  Carlyle  says,  "One  comfort  is,  that  Great 
Men,  taken  up  in  any  way,  are  profitable  company. 
We  cannot  look,  however  imperfectly,  upon  any 
great  man,  without  gaining  something  by  him." 

At  this  safe  distance  no  one  could  be  more  "profit- 
able company"  than  Karl  Liebknecht  as  he  stands  up 
boldly  against  all  that  is  powerful,  respectable  and 


PREFACE  I I 

formidable  in  Germany  and  challenges  it  at  the  utter 
risk  of  life  and  reputation.  Such  courage  as  his  is 
almost  inconceivable;  for  us  poor  conforming  or  at 
best  feebly  protesting  little  people  it  is  quite  impos- 
sible. To  die  among  thousands,  even  to  die  alone, 
if  you  think  you  hear  the  plaudits  of  your  nation  or 
your  class,  is  a  thing  many  of  us  have  learned  to  do, 
but  to  stand  up  against  a  vindictive  irrational  war 
spirit,  such  as  ruled  Germany,  to  stand  up  alone,  to 
be  contemned  not  only  by  your  enemies  but  by  those 
who  called  themselves  your  comrades  and  friends, 
to  be  met  by  polite  derision  and  by  actual  threats 
of  violence,  to  be  called  a  madman,  to  be  called  a 
traitor,  to  be  misunderstood  and  doubted;  to  be  met 
in  occasional  moments  of  dejection  even  by  doubts  in 
your  own  mind,  and  still  to  hold  your  own  bravely 
and  with  cool  passion,  day  after  day  and  day  after 
day,  in  circumstances  growing  daily  more  difficult, 
and  finally  to  go  to  prison  gladly,  triumphantly — 
that  is  courage  surpassing  the  courage  of  the  rest 
of  us.  It  is  easier  to  die  even  by  torture  than  to 
persist  in  this  opposition  to  forces  physical  and 
mental  not  only  confronting  but  surrounding  and 
even  permeating  us. 

We  have  agreed  with  Liebknecht  that  great  events 
are  not  the  doings  of  great  men  but  merely  the  large 
theater  in  which  these  great  men  play  their  little 
parts.  And  yet,  does  not  the  hero,  subordinate  as 
he  is  to  the  wider  movement  of  the  play,  exert  a 
somewhat  stronger  influence  than  many  followers 
of  Marx  seem  willing  to  admit?    Masses  of  men  are 


12  PREFACE 

moved  to  vital  historic  decisions  in  part  by  economic 
motives,  but  these  motives  must  first  be  converted 
into  emotion,  and  the  hero,  however  his  own 
actions  are  motived,  is  one  of  the  vital  factors  pro- 
ducing that  emotion.  We  shall  perhaps  never  know 
to  what  extent  the  present  rising  of  the  German  peo- 
ple against  their  once  invincible  rulers  was  oc- 
casioned, though  not  caused,  by  their  vision  of  Karl 
Liebknecht,  standing  there  alone  against  all  the 
judges,  rulers,  legislators  and  respectables  of  Ger- 
many, and  even  against  his  fellow  socialists.  The 
heroism  of  Liebknecht  was  at  least  a  point  and  center 
of  coalescence. 

The  course  of  events  has  vindicated  Karl  Lieb- 
knecht. But  it  might  well  have  been  otherwise.  Had 
Germany  won  the  war  and  established  a  clanging 
pax  Germanica  through  the  ruin  of  Europe,  Lieb- 
knecht's  heroism  might  never  have  been  recognized. 
He  might  have  rusted  in  prison  and  been  released 
to  obscurity  and  thereafter  lived  a  futile  life  derided 
as  a  blind  fanatic.  The  force  of  circumstances,  the 
obscure  action  of  the  hundreds  of  millions,  rescued 
Liebknecht  and  raised  him  to  the  highest  pinnacle 
of  heroism.  It  stamped  upon  our  minds  for  all  time 
the  picture  of  this  brave  man  standing  alone  sur- 
rounded by  cruel,  confidently  smiling  foes. 

I  said  "alone."  Yet  this  is  not  fair  to  a  very  small 
group  of  German  minority  socialists,  who  stood  by 
Liebknecht  and  by  whom  Liebknecht  stood.  Among 
them  were  Rosa  Luxemburg,  Franz  Mehring,  Hugo 
Haase,    George   Ledebour,   and   others,   to   whom, 


PREFACE  13 

were  real  heroism  always  decorated,  would  be  given 
a  higher  order  of  "Pour  le  Merite."  But  among  all 
these  Karl  Liebknecht  stands  preeminent. 

"And  for  all  that  mind  you,"  concludes  the  French 
soldier  Bertrand,  in  "Under  Fire,"  "there  is  one 
figure  that  has  risen  above  the  war  and  will  blaze 
with  the  beauty  and  strength  of  his  courage." 

Barbusse  continues:  "I  listened  leaning  on  a  stick 
towards  him,  drinking  in  the  voice  that  came  in  the 
twilight  silence  from  the  lips  that  so  rarely  spoke. 
He  cried  with  a  clear  voice,  'Liebknecht.'  " 

Walter  Weyl. 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

'^The  future  belongs  to  the  people."  The  time 
was  October  24,  191 8;  the  place,  Berlin,  the  center 
of  Germany;  the  speaker,  Doctor  Karl  Liebknecht. 
A  remarkable  change  had  indeed  come  over  the  Em- 
pire. As  far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  a  great  shout- 
ing, surging  crowd  had  gathered  before  the  Reich- 
stag buildings,  a  crowd  such  as  might  have  fore- 
gathered in  times  past  on  almost  any  day  of  national 
festivity,  to  do  honor  to  his  Imperial  Majesty, 
Kaiser  Wilhelm,  They  were  indeed  shouting  fran- 
tically on  this  occasion,  but  with  other  sentiments, 
shouting  not  for  the  Kaiser,  but  for  abdication,  while 
applauding  frantically  for  another,  a  bitter  foe  of 
the  Kaiser,  a  man  who  had  been  sent  to  jail  for  high 
treason,  had  been  deprived  of  his  seat  in  the  Reich- 
stag, had  been  dubbed,  even  by  those  in  his  own 
party,  an  enemy  of  his  kind — Karl  Liebknecht.  And 
who,  witnessing  the  flower-laden  carriage  of  the 
great  popular  hero,  but  would  admit  that  a  new  day 
was  at  last  dawning  in  that  land  of  autocracy,  a  day 
ushered  in  by  the  guns  and  men  of  Foch? 

The  events  leading  to  that  ovation  of  the  twenty- 
fourth  of  October  are  of  interest. 

From  the  earliest  days  of  its  organization,  soon 
after  the  middle  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  Ger- 

14 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  15 

man  Social  Democracy  had  taken  a  stand  against 
militarism.  During  the  Franco-Prussian  War,  two 
of  its  chief  representatives,  Wilhelm  Liebknecht  (the 
father  of  Karl  Liebknecht)  and  August  Bebel,  had 
refused  to  vote  for  the  war  budget.  In  191 2,  dur- 
ing the  Balkan  crisis,  the  German  Socialists  had 
attended  in  force  the  great  gathering  of  the  Interna- 
tional Socialist  Conference  at  Basle,  protesting  in 
vigorous  tones  against  the  war,  and  many  there  were 
on  that  occasion  who  declared  that  even  if  danger 
of  world  war  had  not  been  entirely  eliminated,  the 
Social  Democrats  of  Germany,  the  strongest  of  the 
International  movement,  were  prepared  to  meet  any 
emergency  that  might  arise.  In  the  Reichstag  elec- 
tions, these  Social  Democrats  had  cast  four  and  a 
quarter  millions  of  votes,  while  the  labor  unions, 
which  In  Germany  worked  hand  and  hand  with  the 
Social-Democratic  Party,  numbered  no  less  than  two 
and  a  half  millions.  The  Socialist  movement  had 
the  support  of  hundreds  of  newspapers,  possessed 
a  strong  and  well-disciplined  organization  and  large 
financial  resources,  and  was  remarkably  rich  in  po- 
litical experience.  In  efficiency  of  organization  it 
ranked  second  only  to  the  Catholic  Church. 

It  was  true  that  the  German  Social  Democrats  as 
yet  had  gained  little  real  Influence  on  the  interna- 
tional policy  of  the  Empire,  and  despite  their  power- 
ful organization  and  their  Influence,  they  were  in  a 
position  before  the  war  to  use  only  moral  pressure 
on  the  government.  Yet  to  many  it  seemed  extreme- 
ly unlikely  that  the  German  government  would  dare 


i6  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

instigate  a  world  conflagration  when  opposed  at 
home  by  this  powerful  "internal  enemy." 

The  war  came.  Immediately  after  war's  declara- 
tion, the  Imperial  Chancellor  called  a  meeting  of  the 
Reichstag  on  August  5,  19 14,  for  the  purpose  of  ap- 
proving the  war  budget.  The  day  before  this  gath- 
ering was  held,  he  called  together  the  leaders  of  the 
various  parties,  so  the  story  runs,  among  them  the 
Social  Democrats,  and  transmitted  to  them  a  con- 
fidential communication.  He  had  from  a  reliable 
source,  he  declared,  information  that  a  secret  under- 
standing existed  between  the  French  and  the  Belgian 
governments  whereby  the  latter  government  had 
agreed,  in  case  of  emergency,  that  it  would  give  the 
French  army  passage  through  Belgium  for  the  pur- 
pose of  invading  Germany.  It  was  because  of  this 
agreement,  the  Chancellor  declared,  that  the  neu- 
trality of  Belgium  had  to  be  violated.  In  addition 
to  this  information,  the  Chancellor  told  the  as- 
sembled legislators  that  the  Russian  army  had  in- 
vaded German  soil  and  had  even  then  overrun  two 
of  the  Prussian  provinces. 

These  statements  produced  the  desired  effect,  con- 
vincing the  majority  of  the  Social  Democratic  lead- 
ers that  their  only  course  was  to  support  the  Kaiser 
and  his  government.  The  government  knew  how  to 
fool  them,  knew  what  to  use  in  order  to  get  their 
support,  and  the  Kaiser  and  his  government  were 
victorious. 

Every  cable  message  during  those  days  that 
reached  America   from   Germany  emphasized  the 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  17 

thought  that  there  were  no  longer  any  parties  in 
Germany,  that  the  Social  Democrats  had  decided  to 
give  up  their  agitation  and  work  only  for  victory. 
To  many  radicals  in  America  who  had  pinned  their 
faith  to  the  internationalism  of  the  German  Social 
Democracy,  these  reports  seemed  well-nigh  unbe- 
lievable. The  Socialist  leaders  must  have  been  put 
in  jail,  some  argued. 

Then  more  news  came  to  confirm  the  reports, 
and  the  papers  came.  Socialist  papers,  and  Socialist 
papers  even  of  Germany,  and  all  contained  the  same 
unbelievable  truth.  Some  said  then,  "Well,  the  Gov- 
ernment has  taken  over  their  papers  and  that  is  how 
this  news  can  be  explained,"  But  fact  after  fact 
came  out  which  made  even  the  most  doubtful  admit 
that  the  cables  had  been  based  on  truth.  The  strong 
and  great  structure  built  by  a  generation  lay  pros- 
trate on  the  ground. 

In  those  days  of  disillusion,  I  remember  well  a 
conversation  among  a  few  of  us  concerning  the  plight 
of  the  Social  Democracy.  "The  German  govern- 
ment knew  their  Socialists  well,  and  knew  how  best 
to  reach  them,"  declared  one  of  our  group.  "There 
is  one  man  in  Germany,  however,  whom  we  shouldn't 
despair  of,  even  now.  If  he  is  still  alive,  I  cannot 
but  believe  that  he  will  soon  raise  his  voice  against 
the  course  pursued  by  the  German  government  and 
by  his  own  party,  and  show  the  world  that  even  in 
the  land  of  utter  darkness  there  still  shines  on^ 
light." 

Liebknecht's  record  was  open.     For  a  score  of 


1 8  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

years  he  had  fought  militarism  tooth  and  nail.  Could 
he  now  embrace  it?  Temporarily,  it  seemed  that  he 
had.  He  opposed  the  majority  of  his  fellow-Social- 
ists in  the  early  days  of  August  when  they  voted  to 
support  the  war  budget.  But  his  efforts  were  unsuc- 
cessful. The  majority  decreed  that  the  Social  Demo- 
crats must  support  the  war,  and  party  discipline  de- 
manded that  the  minority  abide  by  the  decision  of 
the  majority.  Party  discipline  was  strong,  at  first 
too  strong  for  Liebknecht.  He  yielded.  Against 
his  better  judgment  he  voted,  on  August  5,  for  the 
budget.  He  voted,  but  he  rebelled  in  spirit,  and  the 
next  month,  both  at  the  home  of  a  Socialist  Alder- 
man, F.  M.  Wibaut,  of  Amsterdam,  and  at  the  resi- 
dence of  Lieutenant  Henry  DeMan,  in  Brussels,  he 
declared  that  he  could  not  himself  understand  what 
had  possessed  him  when  he  gave  his  vote  in  the 
Reichstag  to  the  war  budget. 

He  soon  extricated  himself  from  his  former  al- 
legiances, however,  and  the  noble  spirit  of  courage 
which  he  afterwards  displayed  has  but  few  prece- 
dents in  modern  history.  In  order  to  portray  to  the 
reader  the  real  picture  of  the  seemingly  Insurpassable 
obstacles  against  which  he  fought,  and  the  courage 
and  idealism  which  he  displayed,  I  have  collected 
and  translated  his  speeches  and  his  important  utter- 
ances since  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  here  present 
them  in  detail  for  the  first  time  to  American  readers. 

Liebknecht  had  many  opportunities  for  making 
himself  heard.  He  was  a  Deputy  of  the  Reichstag 
from  Potsdam-Osthavelland,  an  assemblyman  to  the 


TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE  19 

Prussian  Landtag  from  Berlin  and  Councilman  to 
the  Stadverordneten  Versammlung  of  Berlin.  With- 
in and  without  these  assemblies  he  used  his  pen  and 
his  voice  alike.  It  was  in  the  Prussian  Assembly, 
where  from  the  very  begining  he  had  four  compan- 
ions who  shared  his  point  of  view,  that  he  delivered 
his  longer  addresses. 

His  tactics  in  the  Reichstag,  where  for  some  time 
he  stood  almost  alone,  were  somewhat  different. 
Here,  instead  of  delivering  speeches,  he  used  the 
question  with  telling  effect,  as  a  means  of  bringing 
out  the  truth  on  his  side  and  of  showing  the  empti- 
ness of  his  opponents'  claims.  The  government  re- 
sorted to  every  conceivable  means  to  silence  him,  but 
without  success.  Failing,  they  called  him  to  military 
service,  and  put  him  in  the  uniform  of  a  German 
soldier.  This  act  put  a  temporary  end  to  his  out- 
side public  addresses,  but  he  could  still  deliver  his 
scathing  indictments  in  the  Reichstag  and  in  the  Prus- 
sian Assembly. 

On  May  i,  1916,  he  appeared  at  a  public  gather- 
ing in  Berlin  in  civilian  dress,  and  delivered  the 
speech  which  sent  him  to  jail.  Why  did  he  deliver 
that  May  Day  address?  Why  did  he  not  continue 
to  reach  the  public  over  the  heads  of  the  legislators 
from  his  seats  in  the  two  Parliaments?  It  is  indeed 
possible  that  he  thought  that  the  moment  for  the 
Revolution  had  struck.  For  it  is  an  address  of  revo- 
lution, and  seemed  calculated  to  bring  about  an  up- 
rising of  the  workers.  Perhaps  he  was  under  the 
impression  that  his  addresses  and  the  terrible  pres- 


20  TRANSLATOR'S  PREFACE 

sure  outside  Germany  had  sufficiently  awakened  the 
German  people,  and  that  they  needed  but  a  word  to 
bring  them  into  action.  Whatever  the  reason,  the 
speech  was  a  magnificent  one;  it  required  a  courage 
which  only  a  Liebknecht  possessed. 

When  Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  visited  Henry 
Thoreau  in  his  prison  cell  and  asked,  "What  are  you 
doing  here,  Henry?"  Thoreau  replied,  "What  are 
you  doing  outside  when  all  people  with  ideals  are 
inside?"  That  sentence  well  describes  the  Germany 
of  yesterday.  Liebknecht  was  in  prison,  but  even  in 
his  lonesome  cell  he  still  inspired  the  "gathering 
hosts  and  helped  to  make  men  free." 

I  wish  to  express  my  sincerest  gratitude  to  my 
friends,  Bertram  Benedict  and  Dr.  Wm.  E.  Bohn, 
for  help  and  criticism. 

S.  ZiMAND. 

November  3,  191 8 


THE  MAN  LIEBKNECHT 

Karl  Liebknecht  is  a  worthy  son  of  a  great 
sire.  His  father,  Wilhelm  Liebknecht,  for  years  a 
member  of  the  Reichstag,  was  the  author  of  numer- 
ous pamphlets  on  Socialism  and  economics  and  was 
one  of  the  first  founders  of  the  Socialist  Party  in  Ger- 
many. Karl  Liebknecht  was  born  in  Leipzig  on  Au- 
gust 13th,  1 87 1,  the  same  year  in  which  his  father 
was  arrested  on  the  charge  of  high  treason.  His 
mother  was  wont  to  say  that  she  bequeathed  to  her 
son  all  the  sorrow  that  was  hers  during  that  period, 
all  the  courage  and  all  the  strength  which  she  had 
to  summon  to  her  aid  to  live  through  those  days; 
and  with  her  bequest  went  all  the  sorrow  for  the 
sufferings  of  humanity,  and  all  the  courage  and  the 
strength  to  battle  for  the  cause  of  the  people,  which 
were  back  of  the  father's  trial. 

And  thirty-five  years  later,  Karl  Liebknecht  un- 
derwent the  same  ordeal  as  his  father — himself 
faced  the  accusation  of  high  treason  in  the  highest 
courts  of  his  native  land. 

Liebknecht  studied  first  at  Leipzig  and  then  in 
Berlin,  attending  the  university  in  each  city.  As  a 
student  he  began  his  career  of  social  enlightenment 
by  organizing  literary  societies  for  the  study  of 
social  problems.    Liebknecht  got  his  doctor's  degree 

21 


22  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

in  Political  Economy  and  Law  at  the  University  of 
Würzburg.  From  1889  he  practised  law  in  Berlin. 
Later  he  became  active  In  the  Socialist  movement  in 
Berlin.  In  1902  he  was  elected  Councilman  to  the 
Stadverordneten  Versammlung  (Common  Council) 
of  Berlin.  In  October,  1907,  he  was  tried  for  high 
treason  before  the  Imperial  Court  of  Germany  at 
Leipzig  for  his  book  on  "Militarism."  The  sub- 
stance of  this  book  which  aroused  the  ire  of  the  Ger- 
man authorities  was  first  set  forth  In  a  lecture  before 
a  group  of  young  people  in  1906,  for  it  is  Lieb- 
knecht's  belief  that  in  the  hands  of  the  younger  gen- 
eration of  Germany  lies  the  hope  of  salvation;  let 
them  be  impregnated,  he  would  say,  with  the  right 
social  Ideals  before  militaristic  training  has  an  op- 
portunity to  do  its  work,  and  there  will  be  little  dan- 
ger of  domination  by  the  war  lords,  or  of  the  fruition 
of  the  war  lords'  aims. 

His  trial  was  most  Interesting.  It  was  said  upon 
excellent  authority  that  the  Kaiser  himself  was  con- 
nected by  secret  wire  with  the  court  room.  Lieb- 
knecht bore  himself  triumphantly  throughout;  there 
was  never  a  moment  of  wavering,  never  any  evi- 
dence of  any  quality  contrary  to  the  gigantic  and 
fearless  strength  which  characterizes  the  man.  Lieb- 
knecht is  himself  a  very  able  lawyer,  and  though  he 
had  noted  lawyers  to  represent  him  (Including  Hugo 
Haase,  at  present  a  leader  of  the  Minority  Socialist 
Party  in  the  Reichstag),  he  supplemented  their 
speeches  with  additional  analyses  of  his  own. 

Liebknecht  took  up  the  question,  "What  is  high 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  23 

treason?"  He  turned  the  tables  upon  Olshausen, 
who  was  conducting  the  trial  against  him,  by  a  quota- 
tion from  a  work  of  Olshausen  himself  which  con- 
tradicted the  stand  the  latter  was  taking  in  the  Lieb- 
knecht trial.  The  Socialist  leader's  address  to  the 
judges  was  one  of  the  boldest  attacks  ever  made, 
either  up  to  that  time  or  up  to  the  present,  against 
German  militarism.  "The  aim  of  my  life,"  he  de- 
clared, "is  the  overthrow  of  monarchy.  As  my 
father,  who  appeared  before  this  court  exactly  thirty- 
five  years  ago  to  defend  himself  against  the  charge 
of  treason,  was  ultimately  pronounced  victor,  so  I 
believe  the  day  is  not  far  distant  when  the  principles 
which  I  represent  will  be  recognized  as  patriotic,  as 
honorable,  as  true." 

Liebknecht's  brave  stand  on  this  occasion  was 
rewarded  by  a  sentence  of  a  year  and  a  half  in  a 
military  prison.  While  serving  his  sentence  he  was 
elected  by  the  people  of  Berlin  to  represent  them  in 
the  assembly  of  Prussia.  In  the  Landtag  Liebknecht 
recommenced  his  fight  against  militarism.  It  was 
there  that  he  prophetically  pronounced  the  word 
"Republic"  for  the  first  time.  On  one  occasion  there 
was  a  debate  upon  the  building  of  a  new  opera 
house.  "The  opera  house  for  which  we  are  asked  to 
vote  the  necessary  funds,"  he  exclaimed,  "should  last 
for  many  generations.  We  trust  that  it  will  last  long 
after  it  has  lost  its  character  as  a  Royal  Opera 
House." 

In  19 10  Liebknecht  visited  America  to  give  a 
series  of  lectures,   and  the  United  States  made  a 


24  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

strong  impression  upon  him.  He  used  to  tell  me 
that  he  felt  truly  homesick  for  America  and  had  a 
genuine  desire  to  repeat  the  visit. 

In  19 1 2  he  was  elected  representative  to  the 
Reichstag  by  the  people  of  Potsdam-Osthavelland, 
under  the  very  window  of  the  Kaiser,  The  an- 
nouncement of  his  success  was  met  with  wild  demon- 
strations of  delight.  The  sentiments  of  the  surging 
crowds  before  the  office  of  the  Berlin  Vorwärts 
when  the  result  of  the  election  was  made  pubhc  were 
voiced  by  a  young  workingman,  when  he  exclaimed, 
"The  new  voice  of  freedom  will  be  heard  from  now 
on  in  the  Reichstag."  In  the  Reichstag  Liebknecht 
hurled  with  renewed  zeal  his  invectives  against  the 
huge  armaments  and  militarism  of  Germany. 

Liebknecht  the  man  is  of  the  kindest  nature  and 
frankest  personality.  There  is  to  be  seen  in  his 
make-up  no  grain  of  pretentiousness,  of  false  pride 
— indeed,  he  usually  lunches  quite  happily  upon  a 
sandwich  in  the  train,  too  busy  to  find  any  other  time 
for  his  meal.  His  home  life  is  ideal.  His  present 
wife — his  first  died  in  19 12 — is  a  Russian  by  birth, 
a  graduate  of  the  University  of  Heidelberg,  and  an 
ideal  companion  and  helpmate. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  25 


THE  FIRST  DAYS 

On  August  3rd  and  4th,  19 14,  the  Social-Demo- 
cratic members  of  the  Reichstag  called  a  special 
meeting  in  order  to  decide  what  stand  the  party 
should  take  on  the  War. 

At  the  first  vote  taken,  ninety-four  members  were 
for  voting  for  the  budget  and  only  fourteen  against. 
At  the  last  there  were  only  three  who  held  out  to 
the  end — Liebknecht,  Ledebour,  and  Haase. 

The  officials  of  the  party  tried  to  give  the  im- 
pression that  there  were  no  differences  of  opinion 
in  the  party,  but  Liebknecht  wrote  the  following 
letter,  which  was  published  in  the  Bürger  Zeitung, 
Bremen,  September  18,  1914. 

"I  understand  that  several  members  of  the  So- 
cialist Party  have  written  all  manner  of  statements 
to  the  press  with  regard  to  the  deliberations  of  the 
Socialist  Party  in  the  Reichstag  on  August  3rd  and 
4th. 

"According  to  these  reports,  there  were  no  serious 
differences  of  opinion  in  our  party  in  regard  to  the 
political  situation  and  our  own  position,  and  decisions 
to  assent  to  war  credits  are  alleged  to  have  been 
arrived  at  unanimously.  In  order  to  prevent  the  dis- 
semination of  an  inadmissible  fiction  I  feel  it  to  be 
my  duty  to  put  on  record  the  fact  that  the  issues  in- 


2  6  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

volved  gave  rise  to  diametrically  opposite  views 
within  our  party  parliament,  and  these  opposing 
views  found  expression  with  a  violence  hitherto  un- 
known in  our  deliberations. 

*'It  is  also  entirely  untrue  to  say  that  assent  to  the 
war  credits  was  given  unanimously." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  27 


LIEBKNECHT'S  VISIT  TO  BELGIUM 

On  September  i6th,  19 14,  Liebknecht  went  to 
Belgium  to  inform  himself  about  the  situation,  and 
here  is  what  Camille  Huysmans,  the  secretary  of  the 
International  Socialist  Bureau,  writes  about  Lieb- 
knecht's  visit  to  Belgium: 

To  P.  Renaudel,  Editor  of  L'Humanite. 

"My  dear  Renaudel, — Liebknecht  came  to  Bel- 
gium on  September  i6th,  19 14.  He  met  several 
friends,  and  he  came  to  see  me  at  Brussels,  at  the 
Maison  du  Peuple,  in  the  afternoon.  I  asked  him 
into  my  office  and  we  had  a  conversation  which 
lasted  more  than  two  hours.  I  took  him  to  dinner 
at  a  restaurant  in  the  town,  and  we  again  talked  at 
length,  I  invited  other  friends  to  meet  him,  among 
them  our  comrade  Vandersmirsen.  The  next  morn- 
ing we  went  out  in  two  motor  cars.  We  passed 
through  several  districts.  We  tried  to  see  Louvain, 
but  the  military  authorities  would  not  allow  us  to 
do  so. 

"At  Tirlemont,  through  the  mistake  of  an  officer, 
we  were  caught  in  some  shrapnel  fire,  and  we  had 
to  remain  through  the  engagement.  I  showed  Lieb- 
knecht what  actually  took  place.    He  questioned  the 


28  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Belgians.  He  talked  with  the  German  soldiers.  He 
was  thus  able  to  form  his  own  opinion  on  the  spot. 
"To  sum  up :  Liebknecht,  when  he  came,  knew 
nothing  of  what  had  happened  in  Belgium.  He  went 
away  convinced  that  the  Belgians  had  not  been  sold 
to  Great  Britain,  that  they  had  not  organized  bands 
of  francs-tireurs,  that  they  had  not  assassinated 
the  German  wounded,  and  that  the  German  execu- 
tions in  Belgium  were  unjustifiable. 
;  "He  came  to  Belgium  honorably  and  honestly  to 
gain  information.  Anything  else  is  calumny.  Those 
Belgians  who  regarded  the  reception  by  me  of  a 
German  as  an  act  of  treason  grasped  him  effusively 
by  the  hand  when  they  learned  that  he  came  to  find 
out  and  to  speak  the  truth. 

"Yours, 

"Camille  Huysmans." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  29 


DID  NOT  CHEER  THE  KAISER 

Berlin,  October  24,  19 14. 

Editor,  Berliner  Tageblatt. 

Berlin. 
Df:AR  Sir: 

In  your  report  of  the  meeting  of  the  Prussian  As- 
sembly on  the  22nd  of  the  month  you  say  that  during 
the  reading  by  Dr.  Delbrück  of  the  greetings  of  the 
Kaiser  the  whole  house  stood  (that  means,  the 
Social-Democrats  also).  That  does  not  correspond 
with  the  truth.  The  Social-Democratic  members  of 
the  Assembly,  who  were  in  their  places,  remained 
seated. 

With  reference  to  the  closing  speech  of  the  Presi- 
dent your  report  reads  that  the  whole  House  ap- 
plauded and  took  part  in  the  cheers  for  the  Kaiser. 
That  also  Is  not  true.  Five  members  (Hof er,  Adolf 
Hoffmann,  Paul  Hoffmann,  Liebknecht  and  Ströbel, 
— S.  Z.)  of  the  Social-Democratic  representation  in 
the  Landtag  (that  means  half)  left  the  room  when 
this  speech  of  the  President  was  delivered. 

I  would  ask  you  to  print  the  above  correction  ac- 
cording to  paragraph  II  of  the  Press  Law. 
Respectfully, 

Karl  Liebknecht. 


30  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT   DISAPPROVES   OF   MAJOR- 
ITY SOCIALISTS  OF  GERMANY 

The  Swiss  Socialist  paper  Volksrecht  published  in 
November,  19 14,  the  following  statement,  signed  by 
Karl  Liebknecht,  Rosa  Luxemburg,  Franz  Mehring 
and  Clara  Zetkin. 

"In  the  Socialist  press  of  the  neutral  countries  of 
Sweden,  Italy  and  Switzerland,  Comrades  Dr.  Suede- 
kum  and  Richard  Fischer  have  attempted  to  portray 
the  attitude  of  the  German  Social-Democrats  to- 
wards the  present  War  in  the  light  of  their  own 
Ideas.  We  feel  ourselves  forced  therefore  to  ex- 
plain through  the  same  mediums  that  we,  and  cer- 
tainly many  other  German  Social-Democrats,  look 
on  the  War,  Its  causes  and  Its  character,  as  well  as 
on  the  role  of  the  Social-Democrats  at  the  present 
time,  from  a  standpoint  which  in  no  way  corresponds 
to  that  of  Dr.  Suedekum  and  Herr  Fischer.  At  the 
present  time  the  state  of  martial  law  makes  it  im- 
possible for  us  to  give  public  expression  to  our 
views." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  31 


REICHSTAG  MEETING,  DECEMBER  2,  1914, 

AND  LIEBKNECHTS  DOCUMENT  EX- 

PLAINING  WHY  HE  VOTED  "NO" 

At  the  second  War  Session  of  the  Reichstag,  Dec. 
2,  1 9 14,  Karl  Liebknecht  not  only  voted  against  the 
War  Budget — the  only  member  of  the  Reichstag  so 
to  vote — but  also  handed  in  an  explanation  of  his 
vote,  which  the  President  of  the  Reichstag  refused 
to  allow  to  be  read,  nor  was  it  printed  in  the  Parlia- 
mentary report.  The  President  banned  it  on  the 
pretext  that  it  would  entail  calls  to  order.  The  docu- 
ment was  sent  to  the  German  Press,  but  not  one 
paper  published  it. 

The  full  text  of  the  protest  was  received  by  way 
of  Switzerland.    It  runs  as  follows: 

"My  vote  against  the  War  Credit  Bill  of  to-day  is 
based  on  the  following  considerations.  This  War, 
desired  by  none  of  the  people  concerned,  has  not 
broken  out  in  behalf  of  the  welfare  of  the  German 
people  or  any  other.  It  is  an  Imperialist  War,  a  war 
over  important  territories  of  exploitation  for  capital- 
ists and  financiers.  From  the  point  of  view  of 
rivalry  in  armaments,  it  is  a  war  provoked  by  the 
German  and  Austrian  war  parties  together,  in  the 
obscurity  of  semi-feudalism  and  of  secret  diplomacy, 
to  gain  an  advantage  over  their  opponents.    At  the 


32  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

same  time  the  war  is  a  Bonapartist  effort  to  disrupt 
and  split  the  growing  movement  of  the  working  class. 

"The  German  cry:  'Against  Czarism!'  is  invented 
for  the  occasion — just  as  the  present  British  and 
French  watchwords  are  invented — to  exploit  the 
noblest  inclinations  and  the  revolutionary  traditions 
and  ideals  of  the  people  in  stirring  up  hatred  of  oth- 
er peoples. 

"Germany,  the  accomplice  of  Czarism,  the  model 
of  reaction  until  this  very  day,  has  no  standing  as  the 
liberator  of  the  peoples.  The  liberation  of  both  the 
Russian  and  the  German  people  must  be  their  own 
work. 

"The  war  is  no  war  of  German  defense.  Its  his- 
torical basis  and  its  course  at  the  start  make  unac- 
ceptable the  pretense  of  the  capitalist  government 
that  the  purpose  for  which  it  demands  credits  is  the 
defense  of  the  Fatherland. 

"A  speedy  peace,  a  peace  without  conquests,  this 
is  what  we  must  demand.  Every  effort  in  this  direc- 
tion must  be  supported.  Only  by  strengthening  joint- 
ly and  continuously  the  currents  in  all  the  belligerent 
countries  which  have  such  a  peace  as  their  object 
can  this   bloody   slaughter  be   brought   to   an   end. 

"Only  a  peace  based  upon  the  international  soli- 
darity of  the  working  class  and  on  the  liberty  of  all 
the  peoples  can  be  a  lasting  peace.  Therefore,  it 
is  the  duty  of  the  proletariats  of  all  countries  to  carry 
on  during  the  war  a  common  Socialistic  work  in  fa- 
vor of  peace. 

"I  support  the  relief  credits  with  this  reservation: 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  33 

I  vote  willingly  for  everything  which  may  relieve  the 
hard  fate  of  our  brothers  on  the  battlefield  as  well 
as  that  of  the  wounded  and  sick,  for  whom  I  feel 
the  deepest  compassion.  But  as  a  protest  against 
the  war,  against  those  who  are  responsible  for  it 
and  who  have  caused  it,  against  those  who  direct  it, 
against  the  capitalist  purposes  for  which  it  is  being 
used,  against  plans  of  annexation,  against  the  vio- 
lation of  the  neutrality  of  Belgium  and  Luxemburg, 
against  unlimited  rule  of  martial  law,  against  the 
total  oblivion  of  social  and  political  duties  of  which 
the  Government  and  classes  are  still  guilty,  I  vote 
against  the  war  credits  demanded. 

Karl  Liebknecht. 
Berlin,  December  2,  19 14. 


34  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


KARL  LIEBKNECHT  CONDEMNED  BY  HIS 

PARTY    FOR   VOTING    "NO"    ON    DE- 

CEMBER  2,  1914,  AND  HIS  ANSWER 

In  December,  19 14,  the  Social-Democratic  repre- 
sentation of  the  Reichstag  censured  Karl  Liebknecht 
for  voting  "No"  in  the  open  meeting  of  the  Reich- 
stag. 

At  a  meeting  on  February  2,  19 15,  the  Reichstag 
Socialists  adopted  a  resolution  condemning  his  stand 
and  repudiating  alleged  misleading  Information  he 
had  spread  about  the  Party.  To  this  Liebknecht 
answered  in  the  Vorwärts  of  February  5,  1915,  as 
follows : 

Berlin,  February  5,  19 15. 
Editor  Vorwärts, 

Berlin. 
Dear  Comrade  : — 

Concerning  the  resolution  adopted  by  the  Social- 
Democratic  Deputies  of  the  Reichstag  I  wish  to  re- 
mark: (i)  I  voted  against  the  war  credits  because 
the  vote  for  the  war  credits  Is  in  my  opinion  in  sharp 
contradiction  not  only  to  the  interests  of  the  pro- 
letariat, but  also  to  the  resolutions  of  the  Social- 
Democratic  Party  and  of  the  International  Socialist 
Convention.     And  the  Social-Democratic  Deputies 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  35 

in  the  Reichstag  are  not  justified  In  recommending  a 
violation  of  the  Program  and  party  decisions. 

In  a  letter  of  Dec,  3,  19 14,  addressed  to  the 
Chairman  of  the  Social-Democratic  Deputies  of  the 
Reichstag  I  made  my  stand  clear. 

(2)  Misleading  Information  about  the  Party  I 
have  not  given  out.  The  Social-Democratic  Deputies 
in  the  Reichstag,  who  are  not  the  proper  authorities 
for  such  decisions,  voted  down  my  motion  to  post- 
pone making  any  decision  on  this  point  until  a  thor- 
ough discussion  had  taken  place. 

Karl  Liebknecht. 


36  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


A  NEW  YEAR'S  GREETING  TO  ENGLAND 

I  AM  pleased  to  be  able  to  write  a  message  of 
brotherhood  to  British  Socialists  at  a  time  when  the 
ruling  classes  of  Germany  and  Great  Britain  are  try- 
ing by  all  means  in  their  power  to  incite  bloodthirsty 
hatred  between  the  two  peoples.  But  it  is  painful  for 
me  to  write  these  lines  at  a  time  when  our  radiant 
hope  of  previous  days^ — the  Socialist  International — 
lies  destroyed  on  the  ground  with  a  thousand  expec- 
tations, when  even  many  Socialists  in  the  belligerent 
countries — for  Germany  is  not  an  exception — have 
in  this  most  rapacious  of  all  wars  of  robbery  willing- 
ly put  on  the  yoke  of  the  chariot  of  Imperialism,  just 
when  the  evils  of  capitalism  were  becoming  more  ap- 
parent than  ever.  I  am,  however,  particularly  proud 
and  happy  to  send  my  greetings  to  you,  to  the  British 
Independent  Labour  Party,  who,  with  our  Russian 
and  Servian  comrades,  have  saved  the  honor  of 
Socialism  amidst  the  madness  of  national  slaughter. 

Confusion  reigns  among  the  rank  and  file  of  the 
Socialist  Army  and  many  blame  Socialist  principles 
for  our  present  failure.  It  is  not  our  principles 
which  have  failed,  however,  but  the  representatives 
of  those  principles.  It  is  not  a  question  of  changing 
our  principles,  it  is  a  question  of  applying  them  to 
life,  of  carrying  them  into  action. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  37 

All  the  phrases  of  "national  defense"  and  the 
"liberation  of  the  people"  with  which  Imperialism 
decorates  its  instruments  of  murder  are  but  deceiv- 
ing tinsel.  Each  Socialist  Party  has  its  enemy,  the 
common  enemy  of  the  International,  in  its  own  coun- 
try. There  it  has  to  fight  it.  The  liberation  of  each 
nation  must  be  its  own  work 

Only  blindness  can  order  the  continuation  of  the 
slaughter  until  the  "enemy"  is  crushed.  The  well- 
being  of  all  nations  is  inseparably  connected;  the 
struggle  of  the  organized  working  class  can  only  be 
carried  out  internationally. 

Those  who  are  seven  times  wise  and  whose  weak 
souls  are  easily  carried  away  by  the  whirls  of  diplo- 
matic winds  and  lost  in  the  gulfs  of  jingoism,  say 
that  the  labor  movement  will  no  longer  be  interna- 
tional. 

The  world  war  which  has  smashed  the  Interna- 
tional must,  however,  be  realized  as  a  powerful  ser- 
mon making  clear  the  need  for  a  new  International, 
an  International  of  another  kind,  with  a  different 
force  from  that  which  the  capitalist  powers  so  easily 
scattered  on  August  4,  19 14. 

Only  in  the  cooperation  of  the  working  masses  of 
all  countries,  in  times  of  war  as  In  times  of  peace, 
does  the  salvation  of  humanity  lie.  Nowhere  have 
the  masses  desired  this  war.  Nowhere  do  they 
desire  it.  Why  should  they,  then,  with  a  loathing 
for  war  in  their  hearts,  murder  each  other  to  the 
finish?  It  would  be  a  sign  of  weakness,  it  is  said, 
for  any  one  people  to  suggest  peace ;  well,  let  all  the 


38  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

people  suggest  it  together.  The  nation  which  speaks 
first  will  not  show  weakness  but  strength.  It  will 
win  the  glory  and  gratitude  of  posterity.  It  is  the 
duty  of  every  Socialist  at  the  present  time  to  be  a 
prophet  of  international  brotherhood,  reaHzing  that 
every  word  he  speaks  in  favor  of  socialism  and 
peace,  every  action  he  performs  for  these  ideals  en- 
flame  similar  words  and  actions  in  other  countries, 
until  the  flames  of  the  desire  for  peace  shall  flare 
high  over  all  Europe.  The  example  which  you  and 
our  Russian  and  Servian  comrades  have  given  to 
the  world  will  have  an  emulating  effect  wherever 
Socialists  have  been  ensnared  by  the  designs  of  the 
ruling  classes,  and  I  am  sure  the  mass  of  the  British 
workers  will  soon  rally  to  the  International  Labor 
Party.  Already  among  the  German  workers  there 
is  far  greater  opposition  to  the  war  than  is  generally 
supposed,  and  the  louder  the  echo  of  the  cry  for 
peace  in  other  countries  the  more  vehemently  and 
energetically  will  they  work  for  peace  here.  Thus 
shall  the  working  classes  of  all  the  belligerent  coun- 
tries become  conscious  of  the  necessity  to  fight  for  a 
peace  consistent  with  the  principles  of  Socialism,  a 
peace  without  conquest  and  without  humiliation,  a 
peace  based  not  on  hatred  but  on  fraternity,  not  on 
force  but  on  freedom,  a  peace  which,  because  of  its 
justice,  may  be  everlasting.  In  this  way,  even  during 
the  war,  the  International  can  be  revived  and  can 
atone  for  its  previous  mistakes.  Thus  it  must  re- 
vive, a  different  International,  increased  not  only  in 
numerical  strength  but  in  revolutionary  fervor,  in 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  39 

clearness  of  vision  and  in  preparedness  to  overcome 
the  danger  of  absolutism,  of  secret  diplomacy,  and 
of  capitalist  conspiracies  against  peace. 

/Workers  of  the  World,  unite ! 
/  Unite  in  a  war  against  war! 
With  Socialist  greetings, 

Karl  Liebknecht. 
Berlin,  December,  19 14. 


40  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


SPEECH  DELIVERED  AT  THE  WAR  MEET- 
ING OF  THE  PRUSSIAN  ASSEMBLY, 
TUESDAY,  MARCH  2,  1915 

The  Censor  forbade  the  printing  of  the  follow- 
ing speech  in  Germany  It  is  a  clear  analysis  of  the 
franchise  question.  Dr.  Liebknecht  also  blames  the 
personal  regime  and  rule  of  Bureaucracy  for  the 
War,  According  to  the  Vorwärts  reports,  when 
Liebknecht  began  to  speak  the  Free  Conservatives, 
most  of  the  National  Liberals  and  the  Centrum  left 
the  chamber  in  a  demonstrative  manner. 

Present:  The  Minister  of  the  Interior:  Discussion 
about  the  Prussian  electoral  reform,  care  for  those 
disabled  by  war,  and  democratization  of  external 
politics. 

Taking  part  in  the  discussion:  Dr.  Busse  (Cons.), 
V.  Papenheim  (Cons.),  Dr.  v.  Zedlitz  and  Neukirch 
(Free  Cons.),  v.  Loebell  (Secretary  of  Interior), 
Dr.  Friedberg  (Natl.  Lib.),  Cassel  (Progressive 
People's  Party),  Dr.  Liebknecht  (Soc.-Dem.). 

Dr.  Liebknecht  (Social-Democrat)  :  Gentlemen, 
first  I  wish  to  protest  against  the  fact  that  Russian 
workingmen  are  treated  differently  from  the  civihans 
of  other  enemy  countries.     Such  differential  treat- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  41 

ment  cannot  be  justified — indeed,  must  be  con- 
demned as  sharply  as  possible. 

As  to  the  care  to  be  taken  of  those  disabled  by- 
war,  I  can  only  support  the  heart-felt  words  which 
came  from  all  parts  of  this  house  on  this  question 
and  echoed  in  our  hearts,  that  we  demand  action  on 
this  matter  without  delay  and  do  everything  possible 
to  keep  these  unfortunate  people  from  all  need  and 
misery.  But  I  do  not  wish  to  mistake  what  exper- 
ience teaches  us — that  we  have  every  right  to  take 
words  uttered  In  days  such  as  we  are  passing  through 
with  a  great  deal  of  criticism  and  suspicion.  On 
that  account  I  would  not  like  to  throw  all  the  words 
uttered  to-day  in  the  scales  as  solid  weight.  We  will 
see  if,  in  the  future,  deeds  will  follow. 

The  great  zeal  with  which  this  all-important  ques- 
tion, which  arouses  all  human  emotions,  was  dis- 
cussed, has  for  me  a  special  significance  because  these 
debates  serve  to  hide  the  complete  silence  of  the 
bourgeois  parties  on  the  decisive  and  important 
suffrage  question.  ("Very  true"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  you  can  be  assured  that  those  who  are 
in  the  field  and  the  unfortunate  invalids  in  the  hos- 
pitals will  be  convinced  that  everything  necessary 
is  done  in  this  important  question  only  when  we  make 
it  possible  for  them  at  the  settlement  of  the  question 
to  be  guaranteed  necessary  influence  in  legislation 
and  administration.  (Approval  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  They  will  not  rely  on  the  good  will  of  the 
ruling  parties,  and  if  the  good  words  which  were 


42  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

spoken  with  relation  to  the  care  to  be  taken  of  the 
war  invalids  do  not  go  hand  in  hand  with  willingness 
to  give  to  the  mass  of  the  people  more  rights,  to 
make  possible  a  democratization  of  Prussia,  then 
they  preach  to  deaf  ears  even  if  the  words  sound  so 
very  friendly.     ("Very  true"  from  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  the  27th  of  February  of  this  year  will 
become  a  historical  day  for  Prussia.  It  was  a  criti- 
cal day.  In  the  Budget  Committee  the  Minister  re- 
fused to  give  any  assurance,  even  of  a  general  na- 
ture, about  a  future  suffrage  reform ;  and  to-day  also 
we  heard  nothing  about  it.  The  Progressive  Party 
expects,  according  to  the  speech  delivered  by  Assem- 
blyman Pachnicke,  suffrage  reform  after  the  war; 
they  expect  at  least  the  secret  and  the  direct  vote. 
The  Centrum  appeals  to  its  "clear  and  unmovable" 
position  on  the  suffrage  question,  which  no  one 
knows  (Assemblyman  Ströbel,  Soc.-Dem.,  "Very 
good!"),  and  explains  its  present  silence  by  the  party 
truce.  The  National  Liberals  put  the  question  of 
suffrage  reform  behind  the  task  of  winning  the  war. 
The  Free  Conservatives,  through  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz, 
give  a  straightforward  refusal,  which  Frhr.  v. 
Zedlitz  underlined  three  times  last  night  in  the 
Post.  ("Very  true"  from  the  Free  Conserva- 
tives.) I  hear  again  a  "Very  true"  from  the  midst 
of  the  Free  Conservatives,  and  emphasize  it  again 
thus — according  to  them  the  war  has  brought  out 
strong  counter-reaction  against  any  democratization 
and  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz  must  surely  know  it,  be- 
cause he  warms  himself  behind  the  political  stove. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  43 

He  considers  the  discussion  of  the  election  reform 
as  superfluous,  a  discussion  which  endangers  the 
party  truce  and  which  over-balances  the  discus- 
sions about  the  Budget;  and  he  scoffs  at  the  idea 
about  a  general  fraternization  on  the  foundation 
of  the  introduction  of  the  suffrage  law  for  the 
Reichstag  in  Prussia.  ("Hear!  hear!"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  The  German  Conservative  Party  was 
silent  and  by  its  silence  showed  that  it  approved 
the  provoking  refusal  of  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  To-day  also  was 
this  approval  repeated  in  an  unmistakable  sense. 
That  clears  the  situation,  gentlemen, — clears  it  de- 
lightfully. Clearness  is  especially  necessary  at  this 
time.  ("Very  true !"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  It  never 
was  so  necessary  as  to-day,  when  the  word  "party 
truce"  and  the  false  conceptions  of  class  harmonies, 
of  unity  and  unanimity  of  the  people  and  other  beau- 
tiful descriptive  words  about  a  free  German  people 
of  the  future  becloud  many  a  mind.  Gentlemen,  we 
are  glad  that  this  fog  was  blown  away.  The  naked 
truth  is:  In  Prussia  everything  remains  as  it  was  be- 
fore. Gentlemen,  on  October  22nd  of  last  year  our 
warning  with  reference  to  the  election  reform  was 
received  by  this  house  partly  with  cold  silence  and 
partly  with  indignant  murmur.  It  was  astounding 
to  the  gentlemen  that  the  representatives  of  the  third 
class  of  Prussian  helot  voters  dared,  at  this  time,  to 
raise  the  demand  of  the  people.  The  government 
was  silent  then.  On  February  9th  the  same  per- 
formance,  and  now  the   Committee's  deliberations 


44  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

and  the  debates  of  to-day  which  clarify  the  situation 
so  well !  Everything  remains  as  it  was  before — that 
is  the  significance  of  the  day  for  Prussia.  From  the 
papers  we  already  knew  that,  gentlemen.  Already 
in  September,  19 14,  upon  the  victory  of  the  German 
troops,  so  many  swelled  up  as  "German  friends  of 
the  people."  An  apotheosis  of  Militarism,  an  apoth- 
eosis of  Monarchism,  an  apotheosis  of  the  three- 
class  system  of  voting  and  of  all  "Prussian  egotism" 
we  found  in  the  reactionary  papers, — in  the  papers 
not  only  of  the  Conservative  Parties  but  even  in 
those  of  the  so-called  Liberal  Parties.  ("Very  true!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  in  1866  it  was  said:  The  schoolmas- 
ter, the  Prussian  schoolmaster  was  victorious.  To- 
day it  is  said:  the  Prussian  system  of  voting  is  vic- 
torious in  this  war  or  will  be  victorious  in  this  war. 
("Very  true  I"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

What  progress!  It  will  be  said,  as  it  was  said: 
The  Prussian  three-class  system  of  voting  was  vic- 
torious over  democracy, — by  which  Russia  is  nat- 
urally left  out  of  consideration  as  a  good  friend  of 
the  past  and  surely  as  a  good  friend  of  the  future. 
The  conclusion  will  be  drawn  which  was  drawn  in 
such  an  open  way  by  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz.  But  I  should 
like  to  advise  you  in  your  own  interests  not  to  forget 
that  if  this  war,  especially  in  the  first  months,  awak- 
ened a  strong  enthusiasm  in  the  German  people,  you 
must  thank  above  all  the  fact  that  it  was  to  be  against 
Czarism — against  the  Russian  reaction, —  ("Very 
true!"  from  Soc.-Dem.),  against  barbarism,  unright- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  45 

eousness;  that  it  was  thought  to  be  a  struggle  for  the 
freedom  of  Europe.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.) 

And,  gentlemen,  do  not  forget  the  disastrous  in- 
fluence the  backward  conditions  in  Prussia  and  in 
Germany,  which  conditions  were  combated  by  us, 
had  on  the  attitude  of  the  Neutrals  against  Germany 
in  this  war!     ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  in  spite  of  all  the  characteristic  and 
true  Prussian  manifestations  since  the  first  months  of 
the  war,  about  which  I  just  spoke,  we  had  even  up  to 
now  political  dreamers.  Gentlemen,  those  will  now 
be  enlightened  about  the  situation,  wherever  they 
are,  and  that  is  of  great  value.  The  darkest  pessim- 
ists were  right  in  their  prophecies.  These  debates 
have  furnished  water  for  our  mills.  The  Conserva- 
tive parties  of  this  house  stand  with  their  old  ani- 
mosity against  any  democratization.  From  the  Cen- 
trum nothing  is  to  be  hoped.  The  National  Liberals 
provide  a  special  chapter.  Their  ideal  with  respect 
to  the  electoral  reform  has  been  long  similar  to  that 
of  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz,  namely,  not  democratization,  but 
future  plutocratization  of  the  electoral  reform. 
("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

So  everything  is  as  it  was  before !  The  National 
Liberals  put  out  of  their  present  thoughts  the  strug- 
gle for  peoples'  rights,  because  success  is  to  them, 
as  they  say,  more  important.  Gentlemen,  that  is  ex- 
plainable. These  gentlemen  know,  in  fact,  for  what 
this  war  is  fought.  For  their  electorate  this  war  is 
such   a   tremendously  important  political   and   eco- 


46  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

nomic  business  that  the  people's  rights,  bad  or  good, 
have  to  be  retarded.  Gentlemen,  the  mine  fields  of 
Briey  and  Longwy,  the  mine  fields  of  West  Poland, 
the  colonies  which  promise  important  profits  and 
some  other  nice  things  are  really  no  bad  investments 
for  German  capital.  The  people  can  wait.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  And  Mr.  Pachnlcke, 
the  boldest  representative  of  democracy  in  the 
bourgeois  parties  of  this  house.  Is  already  satis- 
fied in  advance — sure  enough,  only  for  the  present, 
as  he  says — with  the  secret  and  direct  vote !  But 
even  the  moderate  optimism  of  Mr.  Pachnlcke  and 
Mr.  Cassel  that  a  majority  is  available  in  this  house 
with  reference  to  that  patch-work  reform,  was  very 
roughly  stripped  of  its  mask  in  the  Budget  Commis- 
sion by  a  conservative  interruption.  Even  here 
everything  shall  be  as  It  was  before  I  And  even  for 
this  patch-work  reform  Mr.  Pachnlcke  wants  to  wait 
until  after  the  war.  Gentlemen,  we  are  not  so  mod- 
est. ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  We  see 
all  other  classes  in  the  war,  and  especially  through 
the  war,  pursue  unrestrained  and  without  any  com- 
punction their  class  Interests.  We  know  that  this 
war  serves  or  will  serve,  if  it  will  go  according  to 
the  desire  of  the  ruling  class — the  great  capitalistic 
interests — the  interest  of  the  ruling  classes  in  a  par- 
ticular way.  Shall  only  the  masses  of  the  people 
wait  until  after  the  war?  The  technical  restoration 
of  the  law  Is  a  trifle.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.- 
Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  do  we  have  any  cause  to  postpone  our 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  47 

demand  for  democratization  in  a  time  of  martial 
law,  the  press  censorship,  the  suspension  of  the  mis- 
erable right  of  assembly,  in  a  time  of  the  darkest 
reaction,  including  the  spy  system  in  Prussia  under 
the  name  of  Burgfrieden  (civic  truce)  in  a  form  of 
military  dictatorship  celebrates  its  triumph,  in  a  time 
when  the  people  are  more  than  ever  without  any 
rights,  in  a  time  when  by  the  war  not  only  the  danger 
to  all  of  the  capitalistic  economic  order  is  made  more 
striking  than  ever,  but  when  political  pressure  lies 
harder  than  ever  on  the  people.  In  such  a  time, 
there  is  no  occasion  for  us  to  postpone  our  demands 
for  democratization.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  Never  did  the  class  character  of  the  present 
society  of  the  Prussian  state  reveal  itself  so  rude  and 
unmasked  as  right  now.  Nor  do  we  have  any  occasion 
to  postpone  our  demands  for  democratization  at 
a  time  when  the  dangerous  reaction  of  the  inner 
autocracy  upon  the  external  policy  shows  itself  so 
awful  and  dangerous,  at  a  time  which  is  really  clam- 
oring for  the  democratization  of  exterior  politics. 
("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  Mr.  Assemblyman  Dr.  Pachnicke  said 
the  war  has  given  new  support  to  the  demand  for 
electoral  reform.  Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz  shouted  a  shrill 
denial  of  these  words.  ("Hear!  Hear!"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  A  word  which  lighted  up  the  situa- 
tion as  a  lightning  flash,  a  word  for  which  I  and 
my  friends  thank  him,  a  word  of  redemption  which 
can  be  a  call  of  alarm  for  the  further  interior  Prus- 
sian-German  development.      In   fact,   the   war  has 


48  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

given  new  support,  not  to  a  patch-work  reform  In  the 
sense  of  which  Mr.  Pachnlcke  speaks,  but  to  a  re- 
form of  the  Prussian  state  In  body  and  soul.  I  mean 
in  equal  franchise  and  administration  from  below 
up  to  the  highest  ranks.  And  that  not  only  on  ac- 
count of  the  warlike  attitude  of  the  German  people, 
as  Mr.  Pachnlcke  thought.  From  entirely  different 
grounds.  There  never  before  appeared  so  clearly 
on  the  surface  the  glaring  contrast  between  the  heavy 
duties  of  the  majority  of  the  people  and  the  privi- 
leged character  of  the  state  and  the  Administration, 
as  in  these  days;  the  contrast  between  the  equal 
duties  as  cannon  fodder  and  the  political  inequalities 
in  the  state.     ("Very  true  !"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  " 

And  further,  gentlemen,  in  half-absolutism.  In 
secret  diplomacy,  In  personal  regime  and  all  that, 
we  see  one  of  the  most  important  immediate  causes 
for  the  breaking  out  of  this  war,  which  of  course  is 
conditioned  and  made  possible  by  international  cap- 
italism.    ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  if  the  imperialistic  endeavors  of  high 
capitalism  brought  about  severe  dangers  to  peace, 
there  is  needed  more  than  ever  control  of  the  ex- 
terior politics  by  the  masses  of  the  people  ("Very 
true  I"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.),  a  control  which  is  de- 
nied by  the  constitution  and  administration  prevail- 
ing in  Prussia  and  Germany  to-day,  I  know  that  the 
democratization  of  the  exterior  policy  in  other  states 
also,  where  the  democratization  of  the  interior  policy 
has  progressed.  Is  much  to  be  desired  and  our  friends 
in  England,  our  friends  in  France,  to  whom  we  stand 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  49 

as  near  as  ever  before,  as  far  as  they  are  conducting 
Socialistic  propaganda  ("Very  truel"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.),  have  raised  the  demand  before  and  also 
now  for  greater  democratization  of  international 
politics.  Gentlemen,  only  democratization  can  erect 
a  wall  against  imperialistic  and  adventurous  politics. 
Gentlemen,  the  millions  of  victims  who  are  butchered 
in  this  war,  are  butchered  especially  because  the  mass 
of  the  people  were  deprived  of  any  rights  in  the 
countries  concerned!  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  All  of  us,  no  matter  how  many  differences 
of  opinion  may  exist  now  in  our  small  circle,  are  all 
agreed  that  the  mass  of  the  people  did  not  want  the 
war  in  any  of  the  countries  concerned.  ("Very  true !" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  And  if  that  is  true,  it  follows 
that  a  democratic  control  of  exterior  politics  carried 
out  in  all  states  would  have  prevented  the  war. 
("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  From  that 
follows  the  right  and  duty,  especially  now  when 
Europe  Is  burled  in  blood  and  murder,  and  sets  on 
fire  its  culture  and  the  flower  of  its  humanity,  to 
raise  the  demand  for  democratization  of  external 
politics,  which  can  come  only  from  democratic  inter- 
nal politics  which  can  be  nourished  In  the  soil  of  a 
state  democratic  from  head  to  foot.  ("Very  true!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Gentlemen,  I  welcome  the  destruction  of  illusions 
which  existed  in  large  circles  of  the  people  about  the 
willingness  of  the  ruling  classes  and  the  government 
to  grant  an  equal  franchise  law.  A  clear  outlook  is 
especially  necessary;  the  mist  is  now  blown  away, 


50  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

and  this  clearness  is  not  preached  only — and  you 
should  not  forget  it — to  those  who  are  guarding 
and  supporting  the  Fatherland  in  their  civilian 
clothes  and  have  experienced  the  need  of  these 
days,  but  also  to  those  who  are  standing  in  the  battle- 
field and  who  are  expecting  to  hear  different  news 
from  home,  and  who,  when  they  read  the  papers 
about  the  debates  of  the  Budget  Commission  of  Sat- 
urday and  debates  of  to-day — I  am  absolutely  con- 
vinced on  this  point — will  clinch  their  fists  furiously 
in  their  pockets  and  hurl  curses  at  those  who  awak- 
ened in  them  hopes  and  illusions,  who  deceived  them 
about  the  truth, — namely  that  this  war  is  not  carried 
on  for  the  mass  of  the  German  people;  about  the 
truth,  that  the  mass  of  the  people  will  be  left  after  the 
war  without  rights,  as  they  were  before  the  war, 
unless  they  look  out  for  their  rights  themselves. 

Gentlemen,  the  war  preaches  with  a  brazen  tongue 
the  necessity  for  Democracy;  and  to  you  all,  who 
think  that  you  can  rebuke  in  such  a  sharp  way  the  de- 
mands of  the  people,  the  idea  must  emerge,  through 
the  shell  of  your  careless  hostility  and  provoking  and 
people-betraying  demonstrations,  that  the  interior 
political  conditions  of  Germany  will  form  themselves 
even  now  during  the  war. 

Gentlemen,  the  proletariat  is  in  exactly  the  same 
position  as  the  poor  starving  wretch  of  the  old  tragi- 
comedy, who,  dressed  in  distinguished  garments,  for 
one  day  of  illusions,  pretended  to  be  a  prince.  After 
the  present  revelations,  the  dream,  the  hero  dream 
that  every  one  is  to  be  recognized  as  a  free  German 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  51 

citizen,  as  an  equal  German  citizen,  this  dream  will 
vanish  even  to  the  last  illusionist, — he  will  awaken 
from  the  illusion  of  this  monstrous  three-fourths  of  a 
year.  He  will  get  sober,  and  full  of  bitterness,  draw 
conclusions  for  his  political  attitude  even  during  the 
war. 

Gentlemen,  the  only  salvation  for  the  mass  of  the 
people  is  the  struggle  that  has  not  changed  to-day 
from  yesterday.  Not  by  yielding  and  not  by  adapt- 
ing itself  to  conditions,  and  not  by  submissiveness, 
but  only  in  struggle  will  the  people  find  its  right. 
(Assemblyman  Hoffman,  Soc.-Dem.,  "Very  true!") 

The  class  struggle  alone  is  the  salvation  of  the 
proletariat  and  we  hope  that  we  will  carry  on  very 
soon  the  class  struggle  in  open  international  inter- 
course with  the  proletariat  of  all  countries,  even  with 
those  with  whom  we  are  at  war.  In  this  international 
class  struggle  rests  not  only  hope  for  the  democra- 
tization, for  the  political  and  economic  emancipation, 
of  the  working  class,  but  also  the  one  hope  for  the 
mass  of  the  people  concerned  even  during  the  war. 
Their  one  prospect  and  hope  for  the  termination  of 
the  horrible  killing  of  peoples  is  in  the  struggle  for  a 
peace  in  a  socialistic  sense. 

Gentlemen,  the  equal  franchise  you  rudely  denied 
for  the  duration  of  the  war.  Even  after  the  war  you 
don't  want  to  grant  such  franchise.  Laughable  patch- 
work reform  is  all  that  one  of  you,  the  representative 
of  the  influential  Progressive  Party  {Fortschritlichen 
Volkspartei) ^  expects  at  the  most;  the  majority  says 
even  here  "No."    Gentlemen,  that  means  to  the  mass 


52  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

of  the  people  the  fist!  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  Agahist  that  I  place  the  cry:  away  with  the 
hypocrisy  of  the  Burgfrieden  (civil  truce)  !  For- 
ward to  the  class  struggle !  Forward  to  the  inter- 
national class  struggle  for  the  emancipation  of  the 
working  class  and  against  the  war !  ( "Bravo  !"  from 
the  Soc.-Dem.) 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  53 


IN  DEFENCE  OF  ROSA  LUXEMBURG 

Dr.  Rosa  Luxemburg,  with  whom  the  following 
speech  of  Dr.  Liebknecht  deals,  was  tried  in  19 14 
because  at  a  public  meeting  she  attacked  militarism 
and  the  tragedies  which  were  happening  in  the 
German  barracks:  brutal  treatments,  abuses  and 
suicides  of  German  soldiers.  At  her  trial  nine  hun- 
dred and  twenty-two  men  from  all  parts  of  Germany- 
were  ready  to  testify  to  something  like  thirty  thou- 
sand separate  instances  of  brutal  treatment  of  sol- 
diers. 

Dr.  Rosa  Luxemburg  was  born  in  Russian  Poland, 
of  Jewish  parents,  and  studied  in  Switzerland.  She 
went  later  to  Germany  in  order  to  become  active 
in  Social-Democratic  propaganda.  Being  a  for- 
eigner, she  would  have  been  immediately  exiled  by 
the  authorities,  had  she  not  married  a  Mr.  Luxem- 
burg— with  whom  she  never  lived — and  in  that  way 
became  a  German  citizen. 

Dr.  Rosa  Luxemburg,  or  "Die  Rote  Rosa"  (The 
Red  Rose)  as  the  Junkers  call  her,  is  one  of  the  very 
brilliant  speakers  of  the  Social-Democratic  Party  of 
Germany  and  very  few  in  the  party  equal  her  in  de- 
bate. She  has  written  various  books  on  scientific  so- 
cialism. 


54  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Asseftibly  Session,  March  9,  19 15. 

Third  reading  of  the  Budget  for  the  fiscal  year 
19 1 5,  with  the  proposed  law  regarding  the  determi- 
nation of  the  budget,  with  a  special  chapter  in  refer- 
ence to  the  administration  of  justice.  Taking  part 
in  the  discussion  of  this  special  chapter,  Dr.  K.  Lieb- 
knecht, Minister  of  Justice  Dr.  Beseler  and  v.  Pap- 
penheim (Conservative),  who  by  his  motion  that 
the  discussion  on  this  chapter  should  be  closed,  made 
it  impossible  for  Liebknecht  to  answer  the  Secretary 
of  Justice. 

Dr.  Liebknecht:  Gentlemen,  a  few  days  ago, 
continuing  an  old  tradition  of  this  house,  which  re- 
mained true  to  itself,  even  in  this  respect,  you  de- 
prived me  of  the  floor;  to-day  you  will  have  to  en- 
dure what  I  shall  tell  you, — what  I  really  think. 

As  is  known  to  you,  my  party  friend,  Rosa 
Luxemburg,  was  condemned  to  one  year  in  prison 
for  an  alleged  appeal  to  the  soldiers  for  insubordina- 
tion. This  decision  was  approved  a  few  months  ago 
by  the  Supreme  Court.  In  January  of  this  year  the 
execution  of  the  sentence  was  postponed  until  March 
31st  on  account  of  her  illness.  She  spent  a  few 
weeks  in  a  hospital  at  Schöneberg  and  was  dismissed 
from  it  not  cured,  on  condition  that  she  follow  a 
certain  course  of  treatment.  On  February  i8th  she 
was  suddenly  arrested  at  Südende  by  two  oificers 
of  the  Criminal  Department,  brought  to  the  Berlin 
Police  Department,  and  then  to  Division  7,  that  is, 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  55 

to  the  political  division,  and  not  to  the  criminal  di- 
vision. Thence  she  was  transported  in  the  green 
wagon,  together  with  common  criminals,  to  the  wo- 
men's prison  in  the  Barminstrasse,  for  the  fulfillment 
of  her  one  year's  prison  sentence. 

This  incident  unmasks  with  the  precision  of  physi- 
cal experiment  the  real  nature  of  the  so-called  Burg- 
frieden {civil  truce) .  ("Very  true.")  Because  this 
fundamentally  political,  this  party  political  sentence 
is  executed  now,  we  do  not  complain.  Let  those  com- 
plain who  believe  in  the  civil  truce.  (Stroebel,  "Very 
true.")  I  know  that  my  friend  Luxemberg  will 
see  in  the  execution  of  this  sentence  a  proof  that  she 
has  fulfilled  her  duty,  even  in  these  times,  of  work- 
ing for  the  interest  of  the  people  in  the  socialistic 
way.  But  gentlemen,  this  is  remarkable,  and  this 
fact  I  wish  most  to  emphasize — she  was  arested  for 
the  execution  of  the  sentence,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  the  execution  of  the  sentence  was  postponed 
until  March  31,  without  giving  her  an  opportunity 
voluntarily  to  begin  her  term  after  the  authorities 
thought  that  the  reasons  for  the  postponement  of 
the  execution  of  the  sentence  did  not  exist  any  longer. 
She  was  taken  away  without  being  given  an  oppor- 
tunity voluntarily  to  begin  her  sentence.  The 
method  of  this  execution  is  open  to  much  criticism. 
This  transportation  in  the  green  wagon  and  the  de- 
tails which  I  have  just  mentioned  deserve  the  sever- 
est reproach  against  those  officials  who  are  respon- 
sible for  this  action.  ("Very  true"  by  the  Soc- 
Dem.) 


S6  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Of  special  political  significance  is  the  reason 
for  this  execution.  The  Deutsche  Tageszeitung 
brought  out  a  notice,  even  before  there  appeared  any 
communication  in  our  party  press,  of  the  arrest  of  my 
party  friend,  which  was  surely  inspired,  and  prob- 
ably originated  from  a  well-informed  source,  and  in 
which  it  was  said  in  unmistakable  language,  that  this 
trial  was  started  because  Madame  Dr.  Luxemburg 
arranged  political  meetings  ("Hear,  hear!"  from 
the  Socialists),  because  she  was  active  politically 
("Hear,  hearl"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.).  Surely  the 
arrest  was  not  really  a  military  measure,  surely  it 
was  an  execution  of  a  sentence;  but  the  means  de- 
scribed were  used,  and  put  in  execution  from  motives 
which  put  on  it  the  seal  of  partisan  political  per- 
secution in  the  most  objectionable  form.  Very  re- 
markable it  is,  as  I  know,  that  this  happened  after 
the  Berlin  secret  police  told  the  Commander  of  the 
Province  of  the  appearance  of  Madame  Luxemburg 
at  a  few  meetings.  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.- 
Dem.)  The  Commander  in  the  Province,  as  the 
highest  military  authority  in  the  province  of  Bran- 
denburg, advised  the  District  Attorney,  who  is  in 
these  days  subordinate  to  him,  to  begin  action  against 
Madame  Luxemburg,  to  begin  action  against  her  on 
account  of  holding  meetings,  on  account  of  her  poli- 
tical activity.     ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Now  let  me  give  an  illustration  of  how  promptly 
the  espionage  system,  which  was  in  this  case  at  the 
service  of  the  Justice  officials  and  so  in  confidential 
cooperation  with  the  military  dictatorship,  functions. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  57 

On  February  loth,  Madame  Luxemburg  spoke  at  a 
party  meeting  in  Charlottenburg.  On  the  13th  of 
February  the  order  was  given  at  Frankfort-on-the- 
Main  to  arrest  her.  During  this  interval  of  three 
days,  or  rather  of  two  days,  because  the  meeting 
took  place  on  the  evening  of  February  loth,  the  spy 
who  must  have  been  present  at  the  meeting  (and  in 
whose  behalf,  as  an  officer  of  the  Department  of  Jus- 
tice, you  will  now  approve  the  Budget),  reported  the 
meeting  to  the  Police  Headquarters,  which  reported 
to  the  Supreme  Command,  and  from  the  Supreme 
Command  the  report  was  forwarded  to  Frankfort- 
on-the-Main,  from  which  the  order  for  arrest  was 
given.  So  promptly  does  the  machinery  of  the  Prus- 
sian State  function  for  the  political  suppression  of 
the  people,  even  in  these  days  of  the  party  truce.  In 
this  field  the  mechanism  of  the  Prussian  State  did 
prove  itself  remarkable. 

It  should  not  be  said  that  Madame  Dr.  Luxem- 
burg was  arrested  because  after  she  held  meetings 
she  could  not  be  located.  Gentlemen,  I  know  that 
only  by  using  all  her  strength,  ill  as  she  was,  could 
she  fulfill  her  duty  to  the  interests  of  the  German 
people,  to  the  interests  of  the  entire  international 
proletariat.  But,  gentlemen,  who  wants  to  make  us 
believe  that  this  action  was  taken  without  any  con- 
nection with  what  she  did?  ("Very  true,"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  The  political  aspect  of  what  she  said 
was  the  determining  factor  for  the  authorities  which 
"do  not  recognize  parties  any  longer."  If  she  had 
only  joined  in  buying  the  usual  market  commodity 


58  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

labeled  "Patriotism,"  then  not  only  would  she  have 
been  spared  from  this  remarkable  attack  but  prob- 
ably amnesty  would  have  been  forced  upon  her. 
("Very  true,"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  But,  gentle- 
men, she  tried  by  summoning  all  her  strength,  to  act 
in  the  proletarian  and  socialistic  cause  against  the 
frenzied  slaughter  of  peoples.  This  does  not  suit  the 
dominant  power,  and  that  is  why  the  arrest  took 
place. 

But  the  worst  feature  is  that  it  was  not  sufficient 
to  arrest  my  friend  Luxemburg  in  this  way,  but  that 
they  also  tried  to  stigmatize  her  honor  by  stating 
that  she  had  shown  intentions  of  flight. 

Gentlemen,  Madame  Dr.  Luxemburg  wanted  to 
travel  to  a  friend  in  Holland,  and  for  this  purpose 
she  asked  for  a  foreign  passport  from  the  police  in 
her  district,  who  were  naturally  informed  about  her 
sentence,  and  then  she  addressed  herself  to  the  Ber- 
lin police  headquarters,  also  well  informed  about  her 
sentence,  before  the  permission  for  a  passport  could 
be  had;  as  suspicion  was  aroused  at  the  Berlin  police 
headquarters,  she  addressed  herself,  one  day  before 
she  was  arrested,  with  my  help,  to  the  District  At- 
torney of  Frankfort-on-the-Main, — the  official  who 
was  to  have  executed  the  sentence,  and  had  asked 
from  him  permission  to  take  the  trip  to  Holland. 
The  order  to  make  this  motion  to  the  District  Attor- 
ney was  given  to  her  lawyer  in  Frankfort  on  the 
afternoon  of  February  17th.  Gentlemen,  I  do  not 
need  to  tell  you  that  a  woman  such  as  Madame  Dr. 
Luxemburg  does  not  belong  to  the  class  who  try  to 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  59 

escape  from  a  sentence, — that  a  woman  such  as 
Madame  Dr.  Luxemburg  is  brave  enough  to  look 
her  enemies  in  the  eye  and  would  not  think  of  leaving 
Germany  in  times  like  these,  where  there  is  being 
waged  such  an  important  part  of  the  struggle  against 
international  reaction, — against  imperialism.  It  is 
necessary  to  be  a  real  Prussian  police  spirit  in  order 
not  to  understand  that. 

Considering  the  facts  of  which  I  just  spoke,  con- 
sidering the  possibilities  of  passing  the  frontier  in 
these  times  without  the  will  of  the  authorities,  the 
talk  about  escaping  can  be  characterized  only  as  an 
attempt  to  stigmatize  the  honor  of  this  really  perse- 
cuted woman,  exactly  after  the  Russian  method, 
which  is  not  satisfied  to  punish  politically  disagree- 
able subjects,  but  tries  also  to  insult  their  honor  as 
much  as  possible.  In  fact,  it  happened  that  the  mili- 
tary authorities  arranged  that  Madame  Luxemburg 
should  not  be  able  to  be  active  outside  of  Germany 
in  a  manner  not  to  the  liking  of  the  German  ruling 
powers.  Why  don't  you  say  so  openly  and  honestly, 
instead  of  hiding  behind  such  obscure  phrases?  Just 
as  we  have  only  one  counterpart  for  your  denial  of 
the  suffrage  reform,  for  the  continuance  of  the  ex- 
ceptional laws,  for  your  refusal  of  any  interior  re- 
form, namely  the  political  ignorance  and  animosity 
against  the  people  of  the  Government  of  the  Czar, 
so  this  action  against  my  friend  Luxemburg  is  a 
counterpart  to  the  arrest  of  the  Russian  Duma  Depu- 
ties, our  admired  and  excellent  friends  in  the  struggle 
for  the  freedom  of  the  people  and  for  the  restora- 


6o  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

tion  of  the  peoples'  peace,  trying  in  common  with 
us  to  serve, — each  in  his  own  country, — in  universal 
opposition  against  its  own  government,  for  the  bene- 
fit of  its  own  people  and  the  good  of  the  other  peo- 
ple, the  good  of  the  international  proletariat,  the 
good  of  humanity.  And  so  sure  as  it  is  that  the 
arrest  of  the  Duma  deputies  in  Russia  opened  the 
eyes  of  hundreds  of  thousands  of  blind  ones,  so 
sure  are  we  that  the  action  against  our  comrade 
Luxemburg  will  awaken  many  a  dreamer  ("Very 
true"  from  Soc.-Dem.),  and  that  they  will  demand 
a  struggle  for  a  free  Prussia  and  a  struggle  for  the 
ending  of  the  mass  murder  of  the  people.  ("Bravo !" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  6i 


LIEBKNECHT  CALLED  TO  ARMY  SERVICE 

On  March  23,  19 15,  Liebknecht  was  ordered  to 
place  himself  at  the  disposal  of  the  German  military 
authorities. 

From  this  day  on  he  was  under  military  law  as  a 
member  of  a  Landsturm  regiment. 


62  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT  QUESTIONS  THE  GOVERN- 
MENT 

Beginning  with  August  20,  19 15,  Liebknecht  be- 
gan putting  his  questions  in  the  Reichstag  which  so 
much  embarrassed  the  German  Government. 

In  England  this  form  of  parliamentary  control  of 
the  Government  is  very  common.  In  Germany  this 
form  is  very  seldom  used.  The  possibility  of  put- 
ting supplementary  questions  gives  this  method  a 
particularly  great  usefulness  where  there  is  so  little 
parhamentary  criticism  as  in  Germany. 

Reichstag  Meeting,  Aug.  20,  191 5,  2  P.  M. 

At  the  table  of  the  Federal  Government  are  pres- 
ent:  Ministers  Delbrück,  Helfferich,  and  Lisco. 

The  first  order  of  business  is  a  question  by  Dr. 
Karl  Liebknecht. 

Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht:  (reads  his  question  amid 
great  commotion  in  the  House)  "Is  the  Govern- 
ment, in  case  of  corresponding  readiness  of  the  other 
belligerents,  ready,  on  the  basis  of  the  renunciation 
of  annexations  of  every  kind,  to  enter  into  imme- 
diate peace  negotiations?" 

Secretary  of  State  v.  Jagow:  "I  believe  I 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  63 

shall  meet  the  wishes  of  the  great  majority  of  the 
House  if  I  decline  to  answer  the  question  of  the 
member,  Dr.  Liebknecht,  at  the  present  time  as  In- 
opportune." (Great  applause,  especially  at  the  right 
side  of  the  House.) 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  "That  is  concealing  the 
capitalistic  policy  of  conquest  (great  uproar).  The 
answer  of  the  Secretary  of  State  Is  a  confession  of  a 
policy  of  annexation  (repeated  great  uproar).  The 
people  want  peace"  (continual  uproar  and  laughter) . 

Reichstag  Meeting,  Dec.  15,  19 15 

The  energy  which  Liebknecht  displayed  at  this 
meeting  was  remarkable  considering  that  he  had  not 
completely  recovered  from  the  injury  which  he  had 
received  In  October,  191 5,  at  the  front. 

Twenty-third  meeting  of  the   Reichstag,   Dec.    14, 
1915,  2  P.  M. 

Present  at  the  Federal  Council  table:  Ministers  v. 

Jagow  and  Helfferich. 
The  first  point  on  the  order  of  the  day — Questions 

by  Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  (Soc.-Dcm,). 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht: 

First  Question 

(I-a)  Is  the  Government  prepared,  if  the  other 
belligerents  are  also  ready  and  prepared,  to  enter 


64  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

peace  negotiations  on  the  basis  of  the  renunciation 
of  annexations?  This  question  I  withdraw  since  on 
Thursday,  Dec.  9,  1915  (Liebknecht  refers  here  to 
Bethman-Hollweg's  speech  in  the  Reichstag  on  Dec. 
9,  191 5,  in  which  the  Imperial  Chancellor  answered 
the  majority  Socialist's  peace  interpellation.  S.  Z.), 
the  Imperial  Chancellor  answered  this  question  in 
the  negative.  The  Government  wants  a  war  of  con- 
quest, not  peace ! 

(I-b)  On  what  other  basis  is  the  Government 
ready  to  enter  immediately  upon  peace  negotia- 
tions? 

(Foreign  Minister  von  Jagow  by  mistake  begins 
to  read  the  answer  to  another  question  (laughter). 
Then  the  following  answer  is  given  to  question  I-b : 

In  view  of  the  debate  of  the  9th  of  December  I 
decline  to  answer  this  question. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  asks  the  floor  for  a  supple- 
mentary question :  What  will  be  the  attitude  of  the 
Government  towards  peace  proposals  from  neutral 
countries  as  asked  now  by  the  Social-Democrats  of 
Switzerland  through  the  Swiss  Government.  .  .  . 
(Great  commotion.) 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  not  a  supple- 
mentary question.     It  is  ruled  out  of  order. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  reads  his 

Second  Question 

II.  Is  the  Government  ready  to  lay  before  the 
nation  the  official  documents  and  semi-official  docu- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  6s 

ments  relating  to  the  secret  negotiations  which  pre- 
ceded the  declaration  of  war,  especially 

(a)  The  diplomatic  history  of  the  Austrian  Ulti- 
matum to  Serbia  of  July  23,  19 14,  including  the  of- 
ficial and  semi-official  negotiations  between  the  Ger- 
man and  Austrian  Governments  after  the  crime  ol: 
Sarajevo? 

(b)  The  history  of  the  German  entry  into  Lux- 
emburg and  Belgium? 

(c)  Is  the  Government  ready  to  create  as  soon  as 
possible  a  parliamentary  commission  for  the  exam- 
ination of  these  documents  and  reveal  the  responsible 
parties? 

Foreign  Minister  von  Jagov\^:  The  available 
material  about  the  origin  of  the  war  has  been  pub- 
lished already.  The  Government  intends  to  pub- 
lish other  Important  documents  relating  to  diplo- 
matic negotiation,  in  so  far  as  they  appear  to  be 
necessary  for  the  enlightenment  of  public  opinion 
(my  italics,  S.Z.),  but  refuses  to  set  up  a  parlia- 
mentary committee  dealing  with  the  examination  of 
these  documents.  The  parties  responsible  are  our 
enemies. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  asks  the  floor  for  a  supple- 
mentary question  (great  merriment)  :  Is  the  Gov- 
ernment ready  to  lay  Immediately  before  us  the 
entire  official  documentary  material  dealing  with  the 
war? 

Foreign  Minister  von  Jagow:  I  have  nothing 
to  add  to  my  answer. 


66  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question 
(great  merriment).  Is  it  known  to  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  that  according  to  a  remark  made  on  Dec. 
5,  19 14,  by  the  former  neutral  Italian  Prime  Minis- 
ter Giolitti,  Austria  planned  as  early  as  19 13  an 
attack  against  Serbia  {Italics  S.Z.)  (Great  indig- 
nation and  shouts.) 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  a  new  ques- 
tion.   We  will  proceed  to  your  next  question. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  According  to  paragraph 
31  of  our  order  of  business  I  have  asked  the  floor 
to  supplement  my  former  question. 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  You  have  already 
asked  two  supplementary  questions. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  The  order  of  business  does 
not  limit  me  to  any  definite  number.  Amid  great 
commotion  in  the  House  Dr.  Liebknecht  reads  an- 
other supplementary  question:  "Why  did  the  Im- 
perial Chancellor  conceal  from  the  Reichstag  earlier 
and  at  the  meeting  of  August  4,  19 14,  the  Belgium 
Ultimatum?" 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  also  is  not  a  sup- 
plementary question,  but  a  new  question.  Do  you 
have  another  supplementary  question?  Now  we 
come  to  your  next  question. 

Third  Question 

III  (a)  Is  it  known  to  the  Government  that  the 
mass  of  German  people  demand  for  themselves  the 
right  to   decide   about  the  external  policy  of  Ger- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  67 

many,  that  they  demand  abolition  of  secret  diplo- 
macy in  favor  of  permanent  public  control  of 
foreign  policy  and  its  general  democratization? 
{Italics,  S.  Z.) 

(b)  Is  the  Government  prepared  to  bring  in  the 
course  of  the  present  session  of  the  Reichstag  a  bill 
which  will  fulfill  the  demand  above  mentioned  and 
submit  the  decisions  on  questions  of  war  and  peace 
to  the  people's  representatives? 

Minister  of  Exterior  v.  Jagow  :  The  Govern- 
ment is  not  willing  {Italics,  S.  Z.)  to  correspond 
with  the  wishes  of  Dr.  Liebknecht  and  to  propose 
such  a  change  in  the  Constitution.  With  this  answer 
the  rest  of  the  question  is  also  answered. 

Fourth  Question 

Does  the  Government  know  in  what  economic 
distress  the  masses  of  the  German  people  labor  on 
account  of  the  war  and  on  account  of  the  desire  in 
capitalistic  circles  for  profits  and  the  impotence  of 
the  Government  in  dealing  with  the  situation?  Is 
the  Government  now  ready  to  check  this  economic 
distress  by  improving  the  general  welfare  with- 
out further  delay  and  by  putting  aside  all  special 
interests,  and  taking  the  necessary  steps  to  provide 
for  the  population  the  necessary  means  of  living 
(food,  clothing,  shelter,  heat  and  light)  ;  especially 
by  regulating  production  according  to  the  general 
welfare?  And  by  commandeering  products  and 
by  the  uniform  distribution  of  foodstuffs  in  such  a 


68  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

way  that  the  needy  may  get  sufficient  food  free  or  at 
low  cost? 

Minister  Director  Dr.  Lewald:  The  Im- 
perial Chancellor  declines  to  answer  the  question. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question 
(great  merriment).  Does  the  Government  recog- 
nize that  according  to  experiments  up  to  this  time 
general  commandeering  of  products.   .   .   . 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  not  a  supple- 
mentary question  but  a  new  question. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  I  ask  the  floor  for  another 
supplementary  question  (great  commotion  and  mer- 
riment) .  Will  the  Government  put  into  operation 
as  soon  as  possible  the  decisions  of  the  Budget  Com- 
mission in  line  with  these  demands? 

Minister  Director  Lewald:  In  the  name  of 
the  Imperial  Chancellor  I  refuse  to  answer  this  sup- 
plementary question. 

Fifth  Question 

(a)  What  meaning  does  the  Government  ascribe 
to  the  expression  "new  internal  political  orienta- 
tion?"     {Neuorientierung  der  inneren  Politik.) 

(b)  Does  the  Government  have  a  concrete  pro- 
gram concerning  this  new  internal  political  orienta- 
tion? 

(c)  What  is  this  program  in  detail? 

(d)  When  does  the  Government  intend  to  effect 
this  program? 

(e)  Does    the    Government    intend    during    the 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  69 

preseat^sessTorTor  later  to  introduce  the  reforms 
necessary  to  the  democratization  of  the  constitu- 
tion, democratization  of  the  legislative  powers  and 
democratization  of  the  administration  of  the  German 
Empire  and  the  states  which  compose  the  Empire? 
Particularly  will  the  Government  reform  the  fran- 
chise laws  governing  the  legislative  and  administra- 
tive bodies  and  democratization  of  the  constitution 
of  the  army? 

Minister  Director  Lev^ald:  The  Imperial 
Chancellor  refuses  to  answer  this  question  also. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question. 
(Great  commotion.)  What  is  the  stand  of  the  Gov- 
ernment on  the  Prussian  Franchise  Reform? 
(Great  merriment  at  the  right  side  of  the  House.) 
This  is  a  question  which  is  of  importance  to  the 
entire  German  people.  That  is  the  way  Government 
and  Reichstag  treat  with  the  life  and  death  problems 
of  the  German  people.  The  people  will  know  now 
where  they  standi     (Continued  commotion.) 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  not  a  supple- 
mentary question,  but  a  new  question.  With  that  we 
are  finished  with  the  short  questions. 

Reichstag  meeting  January  11,  19 16,  2  P.  M.  At  the 
table  of  the  Federal  Council  are  present:  Min- 
isters Helfferich  and  Delbrück. 

The  first  order  of  business:  Questions  by  Member 
Dr.  K.  Liebknecht. 
Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  reads  his  first  question: 


70  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

"Is  it  known  to  the  Imperial  Chancellor  that  dur- 
ing the  present  war  in  the  United  Turkish  Empire 
the  Armenian  people  were  driven  from  their  homes 
and  slaughtered  by  the  hundred  thousands?  What 
negotiations  has  the  Imperial  Chancellor  undertaken 
with  the  United  Turkish  Government  in  order  to 
bring  about  the  necessary  punishment,  to  alleviate 
the  situation  of  the  rest  of  the  Armenian  population 
in  Turkey  and  to  make  the  repetition  of  such  horrors 
impossible? 

To  answer  this  question  the  floor  is  given  to : 

Privy  Council  Frhr.  v.  Stumm  :  It  is  known 
to  the  Imperial  Chancellor  that  inflammatory  dem- 
onstrations took  place  in  Armenia  on  account  of 
which  the  Turkish  Government  was  forced  to  deport 
the  Armenian  population  of  certain  districts  and  to 
assign  them  new  living  places.  About  the  reaction 
on  the  population  taking  place  on  account  of  these 
measures  an  exchange  of  ideas  between  us  and  the 
Turkish  Government  is  now  occurring.  More  de- 
tails cannot  be  communicated. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question. 
Is  it  known  to  the  Imperial  Chancellor  that  Profes- 
sor Lepsius  spoke  of  an  absolute  extermination  of 
the  Armenians  and  that  for  these  horrors  the  Chris- 
tian population  of  Turkey  considers  the  German 
Government  responsible? 

At  this  point  great  uproar  broke  out  in  the  House 
and  made  it  impossible  for  Dr.  Liebknecht  to  finish 
his  questions. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  71 

Shouts  from  the  House:  This  is  a  new  question! 
Finish ! 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  a  new  question 
for  which  I  cannot  give  the  floor. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  Mr.  President,  before  you 
have  heard  the  whole  question,  you  are  not  in  a  posi- 
tion to  judge  (laughter  in  the  House)  if  it  is  a  new 
question  or  not.  At  any  rate  I  wish  to  assert  that 
the  President  reached  this  conclusion  that  it  is  a 
new  question  not  from  his  own  impulses  (shouts  in 
the  House:  Oho!)  but  because  from  parts  of  the 
House  it  was  called  to  his  attention. 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  I  ask  you  not  to  criti- 
cize the  way  I  preside  (applause).  We  come  now 
to  the  following  question: 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  Will  the  Government  be 
ready  very  soon  to  place  before  the  Reichstag  for 
action  data  concerning  the  situation  of  the  population 
in  the  territory  occupied  by  Germany?  Further  data 
concerning  the  measures  taken  for  the  people  In  the 
occupied  territory,  concerning  the  means  of  living, 
(food,  clothing,  shelter),  concerning  their  health  con- 
dition, their  rights,  their  numbers?  Then  data  con- 
cerning the  kind  and  reason  of  the  punishments  de- 
creed and  reprisal  measures  taken  against  the  people 
in  this  territory  by  the  German  authorities,  the  num- 
ber of  people  executed,  military  requisitions  of  prop- 
erty and  methods  followed  in  such  operations?  And 
the  extent  of  the  contributions  levied  upon  them, 
especially  on  the  Belgian  people?" 

To  answer  these  questions  the  floor  is  given  to : 


72  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Minister  Director  Lewald:  The  Imperial 
Chancellor  declines  to  put  before  the  Reichstag  the 
material  desired  by  Dr.  Liebknecht.  But  he  will 
give  information  about  the  activities  of  the  civil 
authorities  in  the  occupied  territory  on  the  request  of 
the  committee  of  the  Reichstag. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question. 
How  many  places  and  buildings  were  destroyed  by 
the  German  authorities  since  the  beginning  of  the 
war  for  the  purpose  of  reprisal — how  many  persons 
were  arrested  and  killed  for  the  same  purpose? 

President  Dr.  Kaempf:  This  is  a  new  question. 
It  is  ruled  out  of  order. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  reads  the  third  question:  Is 
the  Government  ready  to  lay  before  the  Reichstag 
without  delay  material  concerning 

(a)  Measures  taken  by  the  German  military  and 
civic  authorities  on  the  basis  of  the  state  of  martial 
law  for  the  suppression  of  the  right  of  assemblage 
and  of  personal  liberty  (prohibiting  meetings,  dis- 
solving societies,  interference  in  private  correspond- 
ence, arrests,  searching  of  homes,  etc.),  particularly 
the  number  of  those  put  in  military  and  police 
{cachot)  arrest  without  trial,  during  the  war?  Also 
the  reason  for  and  length  of  these  arrests? 

(b)  The  number,  extent  and  causes  of  punish- 
ments inflicted  during  the  war  upon  members  of  the 
army  and  also  the  number  of  convicts  in  the  military 
prisons  since  the  beginning  of  the  war? 

Minister  Director  Lewald:  The  Imperial 
Chancellor  dechnes  to  put  before  the  Reichstag  the 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  73 

material  asked  by  Dr.  Liebknecht.  (Dr.  Liebknecht 
shouts:   That  also  is  very  characteristic.) 

President  Dr.  Kaempf  :  This  word  of  Dr.  Lieb- 
knecht is  ruled  out  of  order  as  not  permissible. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  A  supplementary  question. 
Does  the  Imperial  Chancellor  know  that  in  Germany 
the  Military  Authorities  and  Police  Authorities  have 
established  nearly  everywhere  dark  chambers 
(laughter),  in  which  places  the  correspondence  of 
people  who  are  politically  disagreeable,  among 
whom  are  Deputies  of  the  Reichstag  or  Assembly,  is 
opened  secretly?  .  .  .  (Great  uproar.  The  bell  of 
the  President!) 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  I  wish  to  protest  against 
this  autocratic  suppression  of  the  order  of  business 
by  the  President  and  Reichstag. 

This  finishes  Liebknecht's  questions. 


74  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT  EXPELLED  FROM  THE 
SOCIAL-DEMOCRATIC  PARTY 

On  January  13,  19 16,  by  a  vote  of  sixty  to  twenty- 
five,  the  Socialist  Central  Committee  expelled  Dr. 
Karl  Liebknecht  from  membership  in  the  Socialist 
Party  for  continuous  "gross  infractions  of  party  dis- 
cipline." The  majority  Social-Democrats  took  that 
measure  against  Liebknecht  for  having  greatly  em- 
barrassed the  Government  with  his  questions  two 
days  before  in  the  Reichstag. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  75 


/ 


REICHSTAG  DISCUSSION  ABOUT  THE 
CENSORSHIP 

January  19,  19 16 

Liebknecht  was  unable  to  obtain  the  floor  at  the 
general  discussion.  In  a  personal  remark  after  the 
discussion  was  closed  he  made  the  following  char- 
acteristic remarks : 

"Repeatedly  members  of  this  House  told  me  that 
I  work  in  the  service  of  the  enemy,  that  I  am  a 
traitor.  ("Very  true,"  from  the  left  side  of  the 
House.)  I  wish  to  answer  this  by  saying  that  I  pre- 
fer being  insulted  by  you  as  a  traitor  or  anything  else, 
to  being  praised  for  speaking  according  to  your  taste, 
as  some  members  of  the  Social-Democratic  group  of 
this  House  have  done  lately  (merriment).  Gentle- 
men, by  your  attitude  you  show  me  that  you  wish  to 
suppress  truth  and  right." 


76  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


JUSTICE  IN  GERMANY  IN  WAR  TIME 

Twentieth  Meeting  of  tlie  Assembly,  Friday,  March 
3,  1916,  II  o'clock  morning  session. 

On  the  Ministerial  Bench:  Freiherr  v.  Schorlemer, 
V.  Loebell  and  Beseler. 

The  order  of  the  day:  Continuation  of  the  dis- 
cussion on  second  reading  of  the  budget  of  the 
Department  of  Justice. 

Taking  part  in  the  discussion:  Assemblymen: 
Delbrück  (Conservative),  Reinhard  (Centrum), 
Minister  of  Justice  Beseler,  Assemblymen  Liepmann 
(National  Liberal),  Kanzow  (Progressive  Peoples 
Party),  Nissen  (Dane),  v.  Trampczynski  (Pole) 
and  Dr.  K.  Liebknecht. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  It  must  be  regretted  that 
we  have  no  statistics  concerning  certain  social  phe- 
nomena which  mirror  justice  under  war  conditions  of 
to-day.  Thus  there  are  lacking  statistics  of  the  num- 
ber of  bankrupts,  whose  places  of  business  could  not 
be  opened  on  account  of  lack  of  actual  supplies; 
statistics  concerning  evictions;  concerning  suits 
against  stores  which  sell  on  credit;  statistics  concern- 
ing firms  which  have  gone  out  of  business  and  statis- 
tics concerning  business  events  and  corporations  reg- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  77 

istratlons,  from  which  it  might  have  been  possible  to 
see  to  what  colossal  degree  small  concerns  have  been 
ruined  by  the  war.  There  is  no  information  con- 
cerning the  shiftings  on  the  real-estate  market;  con- 
cerning new  societies  formed  specially  for  the  pur- 
pose of  exacting  high  interest  from  the  people.  Again, 
we  have  no  accurate  information  as  to  what  propor- 
tion of  existing  societies  increased  their  capital, — 
some  of  whose  increases  went  high  into  the  millions. 
("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  Statistics 
of  the  war  measures  would  show  that  they  are  noth- 
ing but  patchwork,  and  that  economic  war-damages 
can  be  prevented  only  when  we  strike  at  the  root 
of  capitalism.  The  war-necessity  measures  are  suf- 
ficient only  to  prevent  the  population  from  resorting, 
as  best  they  can,  against  frightful  economic  in- 
juries. ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  Such 
statistics  would  give  us  an  X-ray  of  the  terrific  injury 
and  destruction  which  the  war  has  caused  and  con- 
tinually causes  the  economic  body  of  capitalism;  an 
X-ray  picture  of  the  capitalistic  elephantiasis  which 
the  war  has  brought  into  being  (laughter  from  the 
right  side  of  the  House)  in  most  branches  of  big 
business,  and  a  picture  of  the  tearing  apart  of  the 
middle  class  and  the  accelerated  proletarization 
of  the  masses.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.- 
Dem.)  Such  a  picture  would  show  us  the  truth 
of  the  well-known  phrase:  "Socialism  whither  we 
are  tending."  The  extent  of  crime  is  not  indicated, 
only  by  cases  brought  to  court.  There  exists  to-day 
surely  a  greater  divergence  than  ever  before  between 


78  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

real  criminality  and  that  brought  before  justice. 
With  reference  to  the  crimes  which  come  to  justice 
statistics  are  lacking,  and  apart  from  that,  the  ac- 
cused is  kept  secretly  hidden  from  the  population, 
first  by  the  tendency,  increasing  more  and  more,  to 
exclude  the  public  from  trials  and  then  by  the  cen- 
sor,— which  makes  it  impossible  for  the  public  to  get 
a  clear  picture  of  criminal  justice.  Thus  the  Vor- 
wärts is  forbidden  to  report  without  permission  of 
the  censor  anything  concerning  arrests  made  ("Hear, 
hear!"  by  the  Soc.-Dem.).  To  report  political  mat- 
ters which  could  cause  excitement  is  absolutely  for- 
bidden to  the  Vorwärts.  Thus  a  while  ago  the 
Vorwärts  could  not  write  a  syllable  of  the  im- 
minent discharge  from  prison  of  Madame  Dr.  Rosa 
Luxemburg  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.), 
and  could  only,  later  on,  report  the  resulting  dis- 
charge. It  seems  that  the  authorities  were  conscious 
of  the  fact  that  the  announcement  of  her  imminent 
discharge  would  bring  out  a  great  mass  of  the  popu- 
lation to  express  their  sympathies  for  Madame  Dr. 
Luxemburg.  In  spite  of  the  prohibiting  order  of 
the  censor  there  were,  as  is  known,  a  great  number 
of  men  and  women  who  received  and  welcomed 
Madame  Luxemburg.  Further  it  was  reported  that 
March  22nd  was  the  date  fixed  for  the  trial  against 
the  Internationale  magazine  (Rosa  Luxemburg 
and  Franz  Mehring  endeavored  to  publish  in 
Germany  a  Socialist  monthly  under  the  title  of  The 
International,  to  voice  the  views  of  the  Anti-War 
section  of  the  German  Social-Democratic  Party.  The 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  79 

magazine  was  suppressed  and  the  editors  jailed. 
S.  Z.),  in  which  Rosa  Luxemburg,  Clara  Zetkin  and 
Franz  Mehring  were  accused.  Of  that  also  the 
Vorwärts  could  not  mention  a  single  syllable. 
("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Furthermore,  it  has  become  a  rule  of  the  censor 
that  no  report  is  permitted  of  trials  which  refer  in 
any  way  to  peace  demonstrations  and  to  riots  on  ac- 
count of  lack  of  food,  so  that  the  population  shall  not 
get  an  idea  in  what  numbers  such  trials  are  taking 
place.  Statistics  in  regard  to  sentences  imposed  on 
account  of  frauds  involving  military  supplies  would 
be  important, — which  are  happening  very  often; 
statistics  in  regard  to  sentences  on  account  of  bribery 
in  order  to  obtain  contracts  for  military  supplies, 
offenses  which  flourished  especially  at  the  beginning 
of  the  war.  Of  great  value  would  be  statistics  in 
regard  to  cases  in  which  the  state  interfered  on  ac- 
count of  furnishing  war  material  to  enemy  states. 
As  you  know,  in  the  period  of  the  war,  a  semi- 
official warning  was  issued  against  the  inclina- 
tion in  big  business  circles  even  during  the  war  to 
furnish  the  enemy  war  material  in  a  roundabout  way 
through  the  neutral  states.  ("Hear,  hear!"  from 
the  Soc.-Dem.)  The  official  notification  accentuated 
the  fact  that  this  roundabout  subterfuge  through  neu- 
tral countries  is  so  plain  that  there  cannot  be  any 
doubt  that  the  capitalistic  circles  concerned  were 
entirely  conscious  of  the  far-reaching  effect  of  their 
action.  ("Llear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  A 
very  noted   senator   in  Lübeck    (Lübeck  is  one   of 


8o  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

three  German  Republics,  S.  Z.),  for  instance,  has 
been  for  a  long  time  under  arrest  for  treason,  be- 
cause he  put  his  Swedish  copper  mines  at  the  dispo- 
sition of  the  Russians.  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  These  cases  must  have  increased,  oth- 
erwise the  official  warning  would  be  unexplainable. 
You  know  how  international  business  is  related,  espe- 
cially Big  Business.  The  kinship  exists,  even  if  in 
changed  form,  and  naturally  continues  even  now. 
You  know  that  this  kinship,  especially  in  the  field  of 
the   armament  industry, —  (bell   of  the  President). 

Assemblyman  Adolf  Hoffman:  "Now  comes 
the  holy  of  holies!" 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause:  "I  cannot  see 
what  that  has  to  do  with  the  administration  of  jus- 
tice and  its  responsibilities.  We  cannot  now  go  into 
a  discussion  of  the  censor  and  the  capitalistic  mis- 
chief, as  you  call  it." 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  I  demand  statistics  which 
will  show  in  how  many  cases  indictments  were 
brought  on  account  of  such  offenses.  When  in  this 
connection  I  point  out  the  international  kinship  of 
capitalism,  in  war  contracts  supplying  German  can- 
nons to  foreign  countries,  I  believe  I  am  speaking 
to  the  point  which  is  now  open  for  discussion.  In 
reality  German  soldiers  were  shot  by  Krupp  cannon 
which  were  furnished  to  foreign  countries.  (Most 
of  the  Belgium  cannons  were  Krupp  cannons.  S.  Z.) 
(Lively  "Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause:  "The  connection 
of  this  with  the  Department  of  Justice  is  difficult  for 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  8i 

any  logically-thinking  man  to  find.     I  call  you  to  the 
question.    ("Bravo!"  at  the  right  side  of  the  House.) 
Assemblyman  Dr.  Liebknecht:  We  are  also 
without  comprehensive  statistics  in  regard  to  the  in- 
mates of  our  prisons.     We  obtained  in  Committee 
only  a  few  communications,  according  to  which  the 
number  of  inmates  of  the  prisons  of  the  Department 
of  Justice  had  diminished,  in  so  far  as  the  men  are 
concerned,  but  the  number  of  sentences  imposed  on 
women  increased.      ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)      Later  it  was  communicated  to  us  that  in 
the  prisons  of  our  Department  of  Justice  there  are 
an    extraordinary    number    of    sentenced    soldiers, 
whom  the  authorities  had  to  take  there,  because  the 
military    and    fort   prisons    are    entirely    overfilled. 
("Hear,    hear!"    from    the    Soc.-Dem.)       In    the 
Prisons    of    the    Prussian    Department    of    Justice 
there  are  at  present  5000  prisoners.     And  prisons 
which    are    under    the    control    of    the    Minister 
of    the    Interior   are    certainly    being    strongly    de- 
manded by  military  prisoners.    It  is  a  fact,  however, 
in  very  many  cases,  that  sentenced  soldiers  are  not 
entering  upon  their  sentences  immediately,  but  are 
serving  in  the  army.    The  decrease  in  the  number  of 
prison  inmates  can  also  for  the  greatest  part  be  at- 
tributed to  the  pardons  granted.     In  many  cases  it 
was  decided,  that  even  without  granting  a  pardon 
there  should  be  a  postponement  in  the  execution  of 
the  sentence,  even  an  interruption  in  the  fulfillment 
of  the  sentence,  in  order  that  the  soldiers  concerned 
could  be  brought  to  the  barracks  or  into  the  trenches. 


82  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  Referring  to 
the  question  of  the  release  of  prisoners,  the  ex-con- 
vict In  the  army  was  discussed  In  Committee.  Ac- 
cording to  my  experience,  It  Is  In  war  that  the  ex- 
convicts,  those  who  were  ostracized  in  civil  life,  have 
particularly  shown,  In  the  most  excellent  way,  the 
qualities  of  human  fellowship.  But  the  danger  must 
not  be  overlooked.  It  consists  in  this — that  people  of 
criminal  inclination,  whose  temptations  are  greater  in 
the  dangers  which  are  facing  them,  are  In  the  army 
in  great  numbers.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.- 
Dem.)  Our  great  responsibility  towards  the  de- 
fenseless population  in  the  occupied  territories  must 
therefore  give  us  special  concern.  German  papers 
commented  bitterly  when  prisons  were  opened  In  for- 
eign countries  In  order  that  the  inhabitants  could  en- 
ter the  army.  But  to  a  certain  degree  that  hap- 
pened also  here  in  Germany.  I  do  not  want  to 
assert  that  the  majority  of  excesses  which  happened 
In  the  occupied  territories  against  the  civil  popula- 
tion, the  cruelties  which  carry  a  special  personal 
stamp,  and  which  surpass  the  real  war  cruelties,  are 
committed  particularly  by  discharged  convicts — at 
all  events  the  question  deserves  special  attention.  It 
Is  Important  to  note,  further,  that  our  civil  justice 
takes  in  to-day  only  a  very  small  part  of  the  male 
population,  as  those  who  are  called  to  the  colors 
are  under  the  jurisdiction  of  the  courts  martial. 
There  are  courts  martial  also  for  the  civil  popu- 
lation, as  you  know,  especially  in  the  provinces  of  the 
frontier.    Statistics  are  also  lacking  as  to  the  doings 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  83 

of  these  military  courts.  From  the  decrease  of  pris- 
oners we  cannot  draw  a  favorable  conclusion  as  to 
the  criminality  of  to-day.  The  source  of  crime  flows 
without  interruption.  The  entire  activity  of  justice 
is  a  circulus  vitiosus,  a  faulty  short  conclusion. 
Neglect  leads  to  crime,  penalty  to  the  increase  of 
social  weakness,  to  demoralization,  to  new  crime, 
new  sentence  and  so  on.  Crime  is  a  constitutional 
disease  of  bourgeois  society.  (Laughter  at  the 
right  side  of  the  House.)  What  is  the  condition 
at  the  roots  of  crimes  during  war?  The  first 
root  is  the  strengthening  of  the  social  causes  of  crime, 
the  distress  of  the  population,  the  increase  in  the 
cost  of  living,  the  ruin  of  the  family.  In  order  to 
examine  the  social  roots  of  war  criminality,  the  re- 
port of  the  Trade  Council  Inspectors  would  be  im- 
portant— which  unfortunately  we  do  not  receive  dur- 
ing the  war.  But  by  banishing  these  facts  in  a  dark 
chamber,  they  are  not  kept  from  the  world.  When 
the  material  in  regard  to  the  secret  social  history 
of  the  war  will  finally  be  presented,  humanity  will  be 
terrified  at  the  horrors  which  have  shown  themselves. 
("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

I  come  now  to  the  second  root  of  war  criminality. 
Mr.  Kanzow  (Assemblyman  of  the  Progressive  Peo- 
ple's Party)  called  Right  one  of  the  holiest  gods 
of  the  people.  To-day  Right  is  in  a  state  of  siege. 
Plow  is  the  principle  of  Right  compatible  with  the 
principle  of  Might;  how  can  the  idea  of  Right  live 
in  the  atmosphere  of  war  psychology,  which  means 
a  destruction  of  the  fundamentals  of  all  that  is  right? 


84  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

The  conception:  "Might  goes  before  Right,"  "Ne- 
cessity Knows  no  Law,"  must  pull  down  all  safe- 
guards of  law.  ("Very  true  !"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 
The  question  as  to  how  the  Ten  Commandments 
stand  to-day  we  hardly  need  to  open.  ("Very  true  !" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  To-day  it  is  not:  "Love  thy 
neighbor,"  but  kill  thy  neighbor!  (The  bell  of  the 
President.) 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause:  By  such  method 
you  could  throw  the  entire  world  into  the  circle  of 
your  examination.  ("Very  true,"  and  laughter  at 
the  right  side  of  the  House.) 

Assemblyman  Adolf  Hoffman  (Soc.-Dem.)  : 
"Justice  has  nothing  to  do  with  right!" 

Assemblyman  Dr.  Liebknecht:  How  would  it 
be  possible  to  speak  about  criminology  without  con- 
sidering it  as  a  social  phenomenon?  ("Very  true!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  When  we  wish  to  speak 
about  criminality  during  war  we  certainly  must  con- 
sider the  special  social  phenomena  of  the  war  which 
lead  to  crime !  Justice  is  indeed  not  only  the  concern 
of  the  employees  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  but 
the  affair  of  the  entire  people.  ("Very  true!"  from 
the  Soc.-Dem.)  It  is  generally  recognized  to-day 
that  crime  is  to  be  considered  a  social  disease.  That 
war  psychology  is  responsible  for  preliminaries  for 
the  increase  of  crime  is  clear.  Many  a  sharp  word 
could  be  said  on  this  point,  many  a  lash  with  the  whip 
could  be  given  to  the  bourgeoisie  society,  but  because 
the  President  does  not  wish  it,  I  will  have  to  be  silent 
about  that  which  should  also  be  said.     When  As- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  85 

semblyman  Schenk  von  Schweinsburg  said  recently 
that  the  war  should  not  end  very  soon,  lest  after  the 
war  we  shall  again  face  such  conditions  as  in  1870 
— then  I  say,  that  from  the  present  war  no  moral 
regeneration  can  grow ;  from  blood  no  innocence  can 
grow;  from  might  no  right  can  grow.  The  Apoc- 
alyptic rider  rides  even  over  righteousness  and  tram- 
ples the  seed  of  righteousness. 

The  crime  among  the  young  is  an  especially  seri- 
ous phenomenon  which  can  be  recognized  in  its  entire 
importance  only  in  connection  with  the  increased 
death  rates  of  the  young  and  the  death  rates  of  chil- 
dren, and  with  the  increased  commitments  to  the 
reformatory.  According  to  the  investigation  of  the 
Zentrale  für  Jugendfürsorge  (Headquarters  of  the 
Welfare  Society  for  the  Youth),  criminality  among 
youths  between  twelve  and  fourteen  years  has  in- 
creased almost  twice.  ("Hear,  hear  I"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  This  increase  touches  also  the  youth 
of  fourteen  to  sixteen  and  naturally  increases  with 
the  duration  of  the  war.  Offenses  on  account  of 
need  and  offenses  on  account  of  neglect  of  youth 
play  an  improtant  role.  ("Hear,  hearl"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  Statistics  would  be  important  which 
would  show  the  relation  between  criminality  and  the 
increase  in  the  cost  of  living  and  the  increase  of 
the  calls  to  the  army.  The  ruin  of  the  family,  in- 
sufficient education,  need  of  better  housing,  the  par- 
tial abolition  of  laws  protecting  youth,  all  help  to  in- 
crease criminality  among  the  youth.  To-day  the 
youth    of   the    proletariat    is    in    the   position    de- 


86  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

scribed  in  the  melancholy  song:  Maikäfer  fliege, 
dein  Vater  ist  im  Kriege.  (May-bug  fly,  your  father 
is  in  the  war.)  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 
The  state  took  its  protecting  hand  away  from  the 
children;  it  is  replaced  by  the  reformatory  and  crim- 
inal justice,  in  order  to  meet  these  phenomena  of  hu- 
man misery.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 
Added  to  that  are  the  moral  causes,  the  contradic- 
tion of  the  entire  present  state  of  affairs  of  Christian 
morality  as  preached  in  peace  time;  the  entire  morale 
of  bourgeoisie  society  is  overturned.  ("Very  true!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  How  the  old  are  singing,  the 
young  are  twittering!  The  neglect  of  the  youth  is  a 
natural  result  of  neglect  of  the  entire  human  race  in 
this  war,  the  neglect  of  our  entire  culture.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Now  commissioned  officers  are  put  into  the  schools 
to  drum  morality  into  the  youth;  outside  of  the 
schools  also  a  strong  militarization  of  the  youth 
will  take  place.  All  kinds  of  demands  for  extreme 
reaction  shoot  luxuriantly  into  blossom.  In  fact  there 
was  recently  demanded  the  restriction  of  free  emi- 
gration of  the  youth  from  place  to  place.  ("Hear, 
hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause:  All  your  last  re- 
proaches are  not  referring  to  the  administration 
of  the  Department  of  Justice.  I  call  you  for  the 
second  time  to  the  question,  and  call  your  attention 
to  the  resulting  consequences,  according  to  the  order 
of  business. 

Assemblyman  Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  In  time  of 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  87 

peace  it  was  possible  to  discuss  thoroughly  in  this 
connection  the  causes  of  criminality.  Now  they  try 
to  muzzle  me.  ("Very  true!"  calls  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.  "Even  in  Parhament!")  That  is  plainly 
impossible.     (The  bell  of  the  President.) 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause:  I  refuse  to  permit 
any  criticism  of  the  way  I  preside.  Certainly  the 
discussion  on  the  budget  is  the  suitable  place  for  dis- 
cussing all  those  social  matters,  but  not  in  the  sec- 
tion on  the  Department  of  Justice's  administration. 
This  belongs  to  the  general  discussion. 

Assemblyman  Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  I  made  my 
remarks  in  close  connection  with  the  deliberation  of 
the  method  for  decreasing  criminality  among  youth. 
It  is  not  possible  to  discuss  criminality  without  dis- 
cussing the  complex  social  conditions  on  which  it 
grows.  The  Minister  of  Justice  is  deeply  interested 
in  those  methods  which  must  be  considered  in  de- 
creasing crimes.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.) 

Another  branch  of  material  and  spiritual  misery  Is 
the  increase  of  crime  among  women.  The  Presi- 
dent would  not  permit  me  to  go  into  details  to  show 
that  just  as  crimes  among  the  young  go  together  with 
reform  schools,  so  criminology  among  women  goes 
hand  in  hand  with  prostitution.  To  discuss  this 
matter  In  great  detail  is,  according  to  the  instructions 
of  the  President,  not  suitable  for  this  place.  In 
criminality  among  women,  offenses  because  of  mis- 
ery and  offenses  because  of  neglect  play  an  Important 
role,  especially  miscarriages.     The  campaign  of  our 


88  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Department  of  Justice  against  birth  control  is  a  par- 
ticular chapter  of  special  importance  which  demands 
also  sharp  criticism.  Birth  control  is  fought  par- 
ticularly on  account  of  its  danger  to  the  military 
strength  of  the  people.  We  find  that  our  criminal 
law,  especially  of  late,  has  taken  sharp  measures 
against  abortion,  in  order  to  protect  our  army 
strength.  The  women  who  are  very  often  in  most 
difficult  distress,  are  forced  to  give  birth  to  future 
defenders  of  the  Fatherland.  I  must  protest  against 
this  kind  of  procedure  from  the  Department  of  Jus- 
tice which  defends  bayoneting  the  womb  of  the 
mother.  (Great  laughter  at  right  side  of  the 
House.)  Previously  not  so  much  attention  was 
given  to  the  welfare  of  the  youth,  to  the  remedy 
for  crimes  among  the  young.  All  these  matters  at- 
tracted great  interest  only  when  they  began  to  be 
considered  from  the  point  of  view  of  Militarism,  in 
the  light  of  the  army  strength  of  the  people.  That  is 
how  irritability  is  to  be  explained  when  those  ques- 
tions are  touched.  Sentences  on  offenses  on  account 
of  neglect  and  offenses  on  account  of  want  in  their 
severity  present  a  great  contrast  to  the  mild  sen- 
tences against  the  profiteers  of  the  necessities  of  life, 
those  vampires  on  the  strength  of  the  people.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  This  justice  function- 
ing strongly  against  the  unfortunate  ones,  who 
through  social  misery  fell  under  the  wheels  of  the 
law,  and  the  milder  sentences  on  those  dangerous 
hyenas  of  the  battlefield,  gentlemen  of  high  position, 
gentlemen  from  wealthy  strata,  show  most  clearly 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  89 

that  the  class  character  of  the  present  society 
is  not  abolished  during  the  war,  but  is  aggra- 
vated, if  that  were  at  all  possible.  All  this  \n  spite 
of  the  party  truce  and  in  spite  of  the  phrase  "I  know 
no  parties  any  longer."  (Liebknecht  refers  here  to 
the  phrase  of  the  Kaiser.  S.  Z.)  Also  political 
justice  did  not  cease  to  any  extent  during  the  war.  I 
wish  to  remind  you  of  the  way  the  schutzhaft 
(That  is,  confinement  in  prison  till  the  end  of  the 
war.  S.  Z.)  is  treated  now  as  a  sentence  without 
trial,  without  verdict,  as  a  punishment  without  any 
guaranties  under  the  code  of  criminal  procedure. 
The  relation  between  the  military  dictatorship  and 
justice  also  needs  examination.  Upon  the  searching 
of  houses,  which  casts  on  our  justice  the  deepest 
shadow,  the  so-called  Schutzhaft  follows.  Those 
who  are  in  the  Schutzhaft  cannot  defend  themselves 
in  any  way.  The  word  Schutzhaft  taken  literally 
means  a  "safe  place,"  exactly  the  contrary  of  what  it 
really  is.  Those  in  Schutzhaft  are  not  even  in  a 
position  to  get  the  advice  of  counsel.  Here  in  Berlin 
the  authorities  having  jurisdiction  over  the  Schutz- 
haft are  treating  the  lawyers  very  roughly  and  ex- 
cluding them  more  and  more.  An  attempt  of  Attor- 
ney Weinberg  to  obtain  the  interference  of  the  Bar 
Association  of  Berlin  against  this  undeserved  treat- 
ment was  unfortunately  put  down  by  the  Bar  Asso- 
ciation. Hundreds  and  hundreds  are  or  have  been 
in  the  Schutzhaft  for  months,  yes,  ever  since  the 
beginning  of  the  war.  A  special  light  is  thrown 
upon   this    situation   by   some   political   trials    also. 


90  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

In  the  criminal  trials  against  Westkamp  and  com- 
rades in  Düsseldorf  the  defendants  were  first  taken 
under  the  Schutzhaft,  then  under  preventative  ar- 
rest. In  court  the  warrant  of  arrest  was  withdrawn, 
but  in  spite  of  that,  they  were  again  taken  from  the 
court  room  to  prison,  in  Schutzhaft.  ("Hear,  hear!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  The  result  was  that  the  ap- 
peals had  to  be  given  up,  in  order  not  to  extend  their 
arrest,  I  do  not  know  how  long.  My  comrade  Cas- 
ton  in  Düsseldorf  was  taken  in  preventative  arrest 
one  month  before  trial  began.  The  order  for  this 
arrest  was  rescinded,  but  he  was  held  in  Schutzhaft 
until  the  beginning  of  the  trial,  and  although  he  was 
acquitted,  he  was  taken  back  and  interned  in  Schutz- 
haft again.  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem. 
Shouts  "The  Russian  Way!")  Now  look  at  the 
Prussia  which  was  selected  in  this  war  to  liberate 
the  Russian  people  from  czarism.  (Uproar  on  the 
right.  "Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.  Shouts 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.  "Liberation  is  necessary 
here!") 

There  is  the  case  of  Caston,  in  which  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  was  asked  for  redress,  but  naturally  In 
vain,  because  the  sword  of  justice  is  now  in  the 
hands  of  the  military  powers,  its  scales  also,  and 
behind  the  figure  of  Justice  grins  Militarism.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.  Laughter  from  the 
right.) 

The  beginning  of  political  trials  under  the  party 
truce  is  as  follows :  The  military  authorities  hand 
over  any  kind  of  work,  book  or  other  kind  of  ma- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  91 

terial  to  the  prosecuting  attorney,  with  the  instruc- 
tion to  interfere.  A  very  invidious  role  for  our 
Justice  1  Justitia  Fundamentum  Regnorum  (Jus- 
tice is  the  foundation  of  states).  No, — Militar- 
ismus Ftindarnentum  Regnorum!  (Militarism  is 
the  foundation  of  states!)  Our  Justice  does  not 
know  parties  any  longer,  wherever  there  are  not 
any  parties,  where  they  capitulated  before  the  mili- 
tary dictatorship.  But  she  knows  very  well  parties 
when  they  have  remained  in  opposition.  There  is  a 
very  fine  distinction  in  recognizing  and  considering 
only  a  certain  wing  in  the  Social  Democracy  as  a 
party,  which  for  this  wing  is  considered  a  great 
honor.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.  Laugh- 
ter on  the  right.)  This  was  expressed  practically  in 
the  trial  against  my  comrade  Walcher  for  distribut- 
ing leaflets,  of  which  the  District  Attorney  of  District 
Court  I  in  Berlin  said  in  the  indictment  that  the  leaf- 
lets were  directed  particularly  against  the  majority 
wing  of  the  Social-Democratic  representation  in  the 
Reichstag.  The  majority  wing  and  their  policy  are 
for  the  Department  of  Justice  a  particularly  holy 
object,  and  on  different  occasions  expressing  doubt 
as  to  this  policy  or  hindering  the  same  was  worked 
up  in  trials  by  the  District  Attorney  as  a  kind  of  new 
crime.  The  indictment  against  the  said  Walcher 
reads:  "At  the  same  time  the  leaflet  contains  at  the 
end  an  appeal  to  those  workmen  who  are  not  in  ac- 
cord with  the  policy  accepted  by  the  majority  wing 
of  the  Social-Democratic  representation  in  the  Reich- 
stag, by  violence  to  alienate  supporters  of  the  ma- 


92  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

jorlty  Social-Democratic  Party.  To  say  that  the 
public  peace  is  endangered  by  such  action;  I  need  not 
explain."  ("Hear,  hear  I"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 
We  can  be  only  very  thankful  to  you  when  by  such 
methods  you  clarify  over  and  over  again  the  "Party 
truce"  {Burgfrieden)  ^  and  in  that  way  admit  the 
correctness  of  our  policy;  in  that  way  you  naturally 
attain  only  the  contrary  of  what  you  wish  to  attain. 

The  editor  of  the  Vorwärts  (Dr.  Meyer)  was 
indicted  on  account  of  his  book  against  the  actions 
of  responsible  and  irresponsible  inciters  to  annexa- 
tion and  on  account  of  another  work,  "who  IS  re- 
sponsible FOR  THE  war/^  where  he  says  what  every 
one  could  say  in  Germany  until  July  29,  19 14,  and 
what  was  also  said  by  your  parties.  In  this  pamph- 
let those  who  are  responsible  for  the  kindling  of  the 
world  war  were  pointed  out.  Dr.  Meyer,  it  is  true, 
was  acquitted,  against  the  motion  of  the  District 
Attorney. 

The  paragraphs  about  agitation,  disturbance  of 
the  peace,  high  treason,  etc.,  are  interpreted  more 
and  more  loosely.  Placing  one  class  in  a  less  favor- 
ajble  light  than  another  is  now  considered  as  inciting 
to  discontent.  Every  energetic  peace  move  is  prose- 
cuted according  to  the  criminal  code.  At  the 
Police  Headquarters  in  Berlin  a  special  commis- 
sion was  appointed  to  try  those  who  are  ar- 
rested on  account  of  peace  propaganda.  ("Hear, 
hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  This,  surely  enough,  is 
not  only  a  German  but  an  international  phenomenon. 
Like  Comrade  Castor,  a  number  of  Social-Democrats 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  93 

in  Italy  were  also  indicted  on  account  of  distributing 
the  Zimmerwald  peace  manifesto.  In  Italy  the  Zim- 
merwald peace  manifesto  was  declared  not  punish- 
able, but  in  Düsseldorf  it  was  punishable. 

Furthermore,  a  number  of  persons  were  prose- 
cuted on  account  of  distributing  the  peace  manifesto 
adopted  in  Bern  at  the  International  Women's 
Conference.  Among  others  Clara  Zetkin  was  ar- 
rested for  the  distribution  of  the  manifesto  men- 
tioned. She  was  arrested  for  treason  because  she 
engaged  in  peace  propaganda.  The  French  Social- 
ist Louise  Soumonneau  was  arrested  for  that  also, 
but  acquitted.  In  Germany  the  proceedings  are  still 
pending,  and  so  far  as  I  can  judge,  there  does  not 
exist  any  inclination  to  follow  the  good  example  of 
France.  But  the  fact  that  an  Internationale  of 
enemies  of  peace  get  together,  with  the  help  of  the 
Department  of  Justice,  to  fight  the  peace  propaganda 
shows  the  condition  of  the  Christian  foundation  of 
our  present  culture.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.  )  If  defending  the  peace  idea,  if  the  proclama- 
tion of  the  international  proletariat  class  struggle 
against  war,  is  treason,  then  it  is  an  honor  to  be  re- 
proached as  a  traitor.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  For  us,  who  see  our  country  in  the  Interna- 
tionale of  the  proletariat,  it  is  impossible  thus  to  be 
deceived  by  the  Department  of  Justice.  But  the  ad- 
ministration of  the  Department  of  Justice  should  con- 
sider if  it  is  not  the  highest  insult  to  our  present  order 
of  society  to  consider  work  for  peace  and  against  the 
murdering  of  the  people  as  treason  I   The  Adminis- 


94  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

tratlon  of  the  Department  of  Justice,  it  seems,  felt  no 
breath  of  this  Christian  spirit.  Equal  rights  for  all 
in  our  time?  Peace  propagandists  are  prosecuted, 
war  instigators  not.  War  propaganda  is  considered 
as  a  special  political  duty.  Why  are  not  capitalists 
prosecuted  and  authorities  who,  under  the  threat  of 
sending  the  working  people  to  the  trenches,  prevent 
them  from  putting  forward  demands  to  improve 
their  condition,  prevent  them  in  that  way  from  going 
on  strike?  Why  are  not  those  prosecuted  for  provo- 
cation who  withhold  from  the  people  the  rights 
promised  to  them  at  the  outbreak  of  the  war,  and 
who  are  accusing  the  women  of  waste  and  gluttony? 
Why  are  not  food  profiteers  prosecuted? 

They  who  conspire,,  to  violate  an  agreement  are 
committing  treason.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc- 
Dem.)  High  treason  has  come  to  be,  in  a  certain 
sense,  a  noble  crime.  There  are  certain  places  in 
Germany  to-day,  especially  in  prison  camps,  where 
high  treason  is  conceived,  high  treason  other  than 
that  just  mentioned  by  me.  (Liebknecht  refers  here 
to  plots  about  the  Irish  Revolution  in  the  German 
prison  camps.  S.  Z.)  In  1904  German  citizens 
were  indicted  for  high  treason  against  czarism.  To- 
day those  who  breed  revolutions  are  high  traitors. 
(Great  disturbance.     Shouts — "That's  the  limit!") 

Vice-President  Dr.  Krause  :  For  the  unworthy 
expression  that  the  Government  breeds  high  treason, 
I  call  you  to  order.  According  to  our  rules  I  could 
ask  the  House  if  you  should  speak  any  further. 
(Cries  of  dissent  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)     I  shall  not 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  95 

do  so  yet,  but  if  you  continue  in  that  way  I  will  have 
to  do  it. 

Assemblyman  Dr.  Liebknecht:  On  account  of 
writing  and  publishing  a  poem,  death  sentence  was 
pronounced,  which  later  on  was  commuted  to  five 
years'  imprisonment.  There  exists  a  country,  where 
conditions  are  even  worse  than  in  Germany,  and  that 
is  not  Russia,  but  Austria.  Only  here  and  there  a 
cry  of  distress  comes  through  to  the  civilized  coun- 
tries. (Continual  disturbance.)  If  in  capitalistic 
society  justice  is  the  veil  of  force,  the  war  has  torn 
aside  this  veil  and  the  legend  of  the  Christian  state, 
just  like  the  legend  of  the  constitutional  state, 
vanished  over  the  entire  world.  One  of  the 
most  important  and  proudest  philosophies  of 
bourgeois  society  is  crushed  under  the  blows  of 
the  world  war^  that  can  be  said  also  about  interna- 
tional law.  Even  a  member  of  this  House  (pre- 
sumably he  means  Prof.  Liszt,  teacher  of  Law  in  the 
University  of  Berlin.  S.  Z.)  revised  his  handbook  on 
international  law,  in  order  to  defend  as  not  contrary 
to  international  law  all  German  methods  used  in  car- 
rying on  this  war.  Just  as  science,  art,  religion 
and  humanity,  broke  down  in  this  volcanic  erup- 
tion, so  justice  broke  down  too.  In  the  Budget  Com- 
mittee the  Minister  of  Justice  promised  to  prohibit 
German  law  students  from  studying  law  in  cities  of 
the  neutral  countries  where  there  is  a  strong  senti- 
ment against  the  German.  If  that  system  were  ap- 
plied to  all  higher  institutions  of  learning,  in  which 
an  unfriendly  view  against  Germany  Is  manifested, 


96  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

then  the  whole  world  would  be  closed  to  German 
students.  We  protest  against  drawing  such  chau- 
vinistic conclusions  from  the  occurrences  at  Geneva 
and  Lausanne,  and  we  protest  that  the  extent  of  race 
hatred,  under  which  the  whole  world  is  suffering  at 
present,  is  exaggerated.  ("Very  truel"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  The  clemency  decrees  were  so  much 
praised  here  that  we  must  think  that  to-day  even 
clemency  itself  is  used  for  war  purposes.  (Great 
disturbance.)  On  account  of  these  considerations 
the  clemency  decrees  must  be  examined  very  critic- 
ally. 

What  future  prospects  has  our  Justice?  The 
source  of  war  criminality  will  flourish  more  and 
more,  the  longer  the  war  lasts ;  and  will  not  the  low- 
ering of  the  entire  standard  of  living  through  enor- 
mous pressure,  lead  to  this — that  the  whip  of  need 
should  be  even  after  the  war  one  of  the  long-re- 
maining acquisitions  of  our  great  time?  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  Will  not  the  war 
ethics,  the  stirred-up  inclinations  to  acts  of  violence, 
that  "Necessity  knows  no  law"  and  "Might  goes  be- 
fore right,"  produce  effects  of  which  we  shall  be 
afraid?  The  passions  which  were  unshackled  by 
our  present  order  of  society  cannot  be  gotten  rid  of 
so  quickly.  Sodom  and  Gomorrha  are  not  yet  de- 
stroyed and  with  the  sharpening  of  the  class  struggle 
political  justice  and  reaction  will  also  grow  sharper. 
Those  are  the  prospects  for  the  future.  There  is  in 
prospect  for  the  future  of  humanity  in  Europe  a 
morale,  physical  and  economic,  bled  white.     For  us 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  97 

it  follows  inevitably  from  this  side  of  our  social  life 
that  we  should  put  all  our  strength  into  the  inter- 
national class  struggle  against  the  war,  in  order  to 
enforce  peace  by  the  will  of  the  people.  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  The  cries  of  dis- 
tress from  the  prisons  and  penitentiaries  and 
places  of  misery  which  cannot  reach  the  public  will 
sound  one  fine  day  more  clearly  in  the  ears  of  those 
who  now  stop  their  ears  and  will  help  to  wake  up 
humanity  to  the  only  holy  struggle  known  by  us 
Social-Democrats, — for  peace  against  war,  against 
the  capitalistic  order  of  society,  for  Socialism! 
(Lively  applause  from  the  Soc.-Dem.  Great  dis- 
turbance.) 

(After  this  masterful  exposition  by  Liebknecht  of 
the  condition  of  justice  in  Germany,  the  Minister  of 
Justice  of  Prussia,  Beseler,  took  the  floor  for  some 
general  statem.ents,  ending  by  saying:  "I  refuse  to 
give  an  answer  to  Dr.  Liebknecht.") 


98  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


THE  SITUATION  IN  AUSTRIA 

(At  the  same  meeting  Assemblymen  Nissen 
(Dane)  and  v.  Trampcynski  (Pole)  protested 
against  the  prosecution  of  their  nationalities  by  the 
authorities  of  the  Department  of  Justice.  To  them 
the  Minister  of  Justice  gave  no  definite  reply.  This 
situation  gave  Liebknecht  another  chance  and  he  took 
the  floor  again  to  add  his  protest  and  by  a  few  re- 
marks to  show  the  conditions  existing  in  Austria, 
Germany's  ally. 

Dr.  Liebknecht:  The  disciplining  of  a  nation- 
ality living  in  Prussia  fits  exactly  into  the  genera) 
picture  which  I  just  sketched.  Such  a  "liberation'* 
of  our  Danish  compatriots  I  took  as  certain.  The 
Minister  of  Justice  limited  himself  to  general  re- 
marks about  my  speech,  saying  that  I  resorted  to  in- 
sults. In  that  way  he  thought  to  provide  himself  a 
comfortable  retreat.  I  have  no  desire,  after  such 
words,  to  concern  myself  any  longer  with  the  Min- 
ister of  Justice.  Only  at  one  point  I  shall  have  to 
add  something,  and  that  Is  in  relation  to  his  denial 
of  my  remarks  about  the  conditions  in  Austria. 
The  Minister  of  Justice  represented  that  my  facts 
had  been  invented.  But  in  Austria  courts-mar- 
tial are  carrying  out  a  true  regime  of  terror, 
such  as  was  not  carried  on  in  the  worst  days  in  Rus- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  99 

sia.  (Lively  "Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem. — 
continued  noise  from  the  majority  parties.)  I  have 
the  material  in  my  hands.  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.)  In  Austria  there  is  no  possibility  of 
discussing  those  things  from  the  tribune  of  a  Parlia- 
ment. (Continued  noise  and  shouts  from  the  ma- 
jority parties  to  finish  the  debate.) 

Assemblyman  Strubel  (Soc.-Dem.)  :  You  make 
yourselves  accomplices  of  those  bloody  sentences. 
(Again  continued  noise.) 

Dr.  Liebknecht,  continuing:  In  a  few  months 
hundreds  of  years  of  hard  labor  were  decreed  and 
also  the  death  sentence  which  I  mentioned  before, 
and  which  was  pronounced  by  a  military  court  on 
account  of  the  poem  I  spoke  of  before.  (Lively 
"Hear,  hear!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.  Commotion 
among  the  majority.)  One  of  my  party  comrades 
was  sentenced  to  death  on  account  of  a  so-called  se- 
ditious speech. 

(A  few  other  sentences  of  the  speech  remain  un- 
heard on  account  of  the  noise  among  the  majority 
parties  in  the  House.  That  closes  the  debate.  The 
Budget  is  approved.) 


100  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


EDUCATION  IN  GERMANY  DURING  WAR 

Meeting  of  the  Prussian  Assembly 

March  i6th,  191 6,  11  o'Clock  Morning  Session 
On  the  Ministerial  Bench:  V.  Trott  zu  Solz  (Min- 
ister of  Religion  and  Education). 
The  subject  of  discussion  was:  The  Education  and 
Religion  Budget,  and  as  a  special  topic:  The 
Higher  Schools  of  Prussia. 
Taking  part  in  the  discussion :   Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht 
(Social    Democrat),    Wilderman    (Centrum), 
Frhr.  v.  Zedlitz   (Free  Conservative),  Minis- 
ter (Progressive  People's  Party). 

In  this  discussion  Liebknecht  exposes  the  method 
and  system  of  teaching  in  the  higher  schools  of  Ger- 
many and  gives  full  play  to  his  great  courage.  "The 
ideal  classical  education  lies  in  the  spirit  of  independ- 
ence and  humanity,"  he  exclaimed.  And,  address- 
ing himself  to  this  reactionary  parliament,  he  added: 
"Your  ideal  of  classical  education  is  'the  ideal  of  the 
bayonet,  of  the  bombshell,  of  poison  gas  and  gre- 
nades, which  are  hurled  down  on  peaceful  cities,  and 
the  ideal  of  submarine  warfare.'  " 

He  also  proves  that  an  educational  system  can- 
not be  separated  from  social  conditions  and  de- 
mands, along  with  a  reform  of  the  entire  school  sys- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  loi 

tern,  particularly  that  promotion  from  the  primary 
school  to  the  high  school  shall  not  be  considered 
any  longer  an  act  of  charity  but  a  right  to  be  de- 
manded for  every  able  pupil. 

His  remarks  brought  out  a  cyclone  of  protest. 
Liebknecht  was  twice  recalled  to  the  subject  and 
thrice  to  order,  and  as  the  President  inquired  of  the 
House  after  the  third  call  to  order  If  It  wished  to 
listen  tot  the  speaker  any  longer,  the  entire  house, 
with  the  exception  of  the  small  group  of  Social-Dem- 
ocrats, voted  that  he  be  denied  the  floor.  In  this 
way  they  avoided  listening  to  Llebknecht's  Indict- 
ments. 

Dr.  Liebknecht:  The  real  character  of  capital- 
istic society  Is  shown  In  Inequality  of  education,  espe- 
cially the  inequality  of  the  Prussian  state  with  its 
three-class  system  of  voting.  In  the  three-class  system 
of  education:  primary  schools,  higher  schools,  uni- 
versities. The  educational  system  cannot  be  sepa- 
rated from  social  conditions.  In  order  to  acquire 
education,  time  and  economic  opportunities  are  neces- 
sary. Education  in  the  capitalistic  order  of  society 
Is  not  an  aim  In  itself.  Utilitarianism  dominates  our 
education.  The  higher  schools  serve  as  preparatory 
institutes  for  higher  official  positions,  whereas  the  pri- 
mary schools  teach  the  fundamentals  which  serve  to 
make  tools  for  capitalistic  society.  Social  misfortunes 
come  to  the  surface  now  more  than  ever  before :  over- 
crowding of  the  classes,  insufficient  rooms,  scarcity  of 
teachers,  frequent  change  of  teachers,  undernourish- 


102  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

ment  and  overfatigue  of  the  children,  and  child  la- 
bor. Especially  does  undernourishment  weaken  the 
health  of  the  proletariat  and  thus  hinder  even  the 
limited  educational  work  of  the  primary  school.  But 
more  than  ever  before  the  primary  school  is  used 
to-day  in  order  to  make  firm  the  position  of  the  rul- 
ing classes,  to  capture  the  souls  of  the  young  pro- 
letariat for  the  ruling  class,  for  Militarism.  When 
we  think  of  all  that,  we  recognize  how  urgently  the 
proletariat  must  work  for  a  fundamental  reform  of 
the  entire  school  system. 

Neglect  of  youth  through  the  war  cannot  be  de- 
nied, exists  in  spite  of  all  camouflage.  There  is  not 
enough  rain  in  the  heavens  to  wash  away  this  sin 
from  the  bourgeois  form  of  society.  Improvement 
of  this  condition  can  be  obtained  only  by  sharp  criti- 
cism. When  one  sees  that, — as  happened  to  people 
at  the  Berlin  Police  Headquarters, — young  working 
girls  1 6  and  17  years  old,  who  were  arrested  for 
some  reason,  are  told:  "You  should  he  put  against 
the  wall  and  shot  down"  ("Hear,  hear!"  from  the 
Soc.-Dem.) — then  it  must  be  recognized  that  we 
really  do  not  live  in  an  age  where  class  differences 
do  not  exist  and  where  the  entire  people  stands 
united,  but  that,  on  the  contrary,  dissimilarities  are 
Intensified  now  in  the  most  Inciting  way.  Where  Is, 
In  face  of  this  fact,  the  sensitive  German  nature  about 
which  there  Is  so  much  discussion  here? 

Very  desirable  would  be  statistics  as  to  how  few 
children  of  the  proletariat  on  account  of  existing  in- 
stitutions have  obtained  opportunity  to  reach  a  higher 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  103 

school  education;  then  the  unimportance  of  these 
few  will  be  recognized,  when  compared  with  the 
millions  and  millions  to  whom  the  road  to  all  the 
splendor  and  magnificence  which  the  human  spirit 
can  receiv^e,  is  closed.  The  amendments  proposed 
(he  refers  to  amendments  which  will  make  it  easier 
for  able  pupils  of  the  primary  school  to  attend  the 
higher  schools  in  larger  numbers  than  had  been  the 
case;  another  amendment  introduced  by  Dr.  Porsch 
(Centrum)  proposed  that  the  so-called  Rektorat- 
Schools,  which  are  for  procuring  a  higher  education 
for  moneyless  pupils,  should  be  supported — S.  Z.), 
are  merely  patchwork  experiment,  because  what  is 
proposed  will  be  to  the  advantage  only  of  the  poor 
bourgeosie,  but  not  of  the  proletariat.  Don't  you 
really  sense  what  it  means,  when  they  try  to  make  the 
pathway  to  higher  education  an  act  of  grace,  whereas 
in  reality  it  is  an  original  human  right?  The  mass  of 
the  people  will  feel  that  instead  of  their  rights  there 
is  given  to  them  Bettehitppen  (coarse  soup  made 
of  black  bread) .  Certainly  only  to  such  proletarian 
children  will  those  privileges  be  accorded,  whose 
souls,  which  make  them  independent,  are  already 
broken,  who  are  robbed  of  their  class  consciousness 
and  who  become  accessories  of  capitaHst  society. 
And  at  the  same  time  these  laughable  experiments 
are  presented  to  the  people  with  a  self-sufficiency 
which  makes  it  possible  for  them  to  recognize  very 
well  the  insincerity  of  the  ruling  classes.  In  closing 
educational  opportunities  we  see  a  brutal  waste  of 
spiritual  energies,  a  waste  of  human  strength  in  the 


104  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

treadmill  of  mechanical  labor,  the  denial  of  human 
economy.  It  is  as  plain  as  law  that  the  children  of 
the  proletariat  are  held  down  by  darkness  of  the  soul. 
Touching  is  the  description  of  Dante  who  walks  with 
Virgil  through  the  forest  of  the  spirits  which  have 
not  sinned,  but  have  suffered  because  they  did  not 
receive  baptism;  to-day  it  is  because  they  are  deprived 
of  money!     ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Considering  the  magnitude  of  the  World  War  you 
and  also  the  Christian  parties  do  not  think  of  saving 
these  starving  ones,  damned  by  Capitalism.  You  try 
to  give  an  impression  that  something  is  being  done. 

By  these  Amendments  you  try  to  give  an  impres- 
sion of  wishing  to  throw  open  the  road  to  education 
to  the  people  also,  but  that  is  because  Capitalism  re- 
quires educated  soldiers.  You  similarly  replace  the 
human  losses  in  the  war  by  giving  commissions  to 
non-commissioned  officers  because  the  dregs  of  the 
proletariat  are  required  for  service.  The  tendencies 
of  the  amendment  show  how  necessary  it  is  to  de- 
stroy the  demagogism  and  the  deceit  which  took 
form  in  them.  (President  Graf  Schwerin-Lowitz 
calls  the  speaker  to  order.)  After  their  experiences 
in  war  time  the  proletariat  will  not  allow  itself  to 
be  duped. 

Assemblyman  v.  d.  Osten  said,  that  the  uniform 
system  of  education  leads  towards  differentiation. 
But  the  truth  is  that  capitalism  makes  the  great  mass 
of  the  people  uniform  in  the  most  brutal  way  and 
differentiates  the  people  only  in  classes,  and  makes 
impossible  the  real  differentiation  among  the  classes 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  105 

of  the  people  and  through  the  whole  people.  ("Very 
true  I"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.) 

Assemblyman  Oelze  spoke  here  yesterday  in  glow- 
ing terms  of  education,  science  and  ideals.  But  in- 
struction in  history  has  been  for  a  long  time  sys- 
tematically used  to  inculcate  certain  political  senti- 
ments in  the  pupils.  The  higher  schools  especially 
have  been  for  years  places  to  exercise  this  practice 
and  in  these  higher  schools  hatred  against  England 
was  systematically  developed,  which  seed  has  now 
sprouted  in  such  glorious  fashion.  The  propaganda 
of  the  Navy  Society  in  the  higher  schools  demon- 
strates strikingly  the  whole  spirit  of  the  system  of 
teaching.  The  world's  history  has  been  ad  usum  del- 
phim  turned  into  a  political  fiction.  Not  political 
truth,  not  objective  knowledge,  but  the  opposite  are 
the  main  features  of  what  you  teach.  In  German 
teaching  the  soul  of  youth  should  have  a  chance  to 
develop  freely.  But  what  are  the  themes  put  to  our 
children?  They  are  set  to  write  patriotic  editorials, 
and  certain  phases  of  war  patriotism  are  taught  them. 
In  that  way  we  sow  the  seeds  of  falsehood.  This 
procedure  following  advice  from  above  is  a  cancer- 
ous disease  for  the  entire  school  system.  You  will 
not  obtain  any  advantages,  even  among  the  students 
of  the  higher  schools  who  come  from  the  bourgeois 
class.  This  most  awkward  method  of  strengthening 
your  class  rule  will  work  against  you. 

And  instruction  in  religion?  By  means  of  the 
most  skillful  dialect  and  by  pedagogical  methods  was 
bridged  over  the  chasm  between  religion  and  war, 


io6  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

between  Christianity  and  mass-murder,  ("Very 
true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  The  curtain  of  the 
temple  is  torn.  But  what  spiritual  embarrassment 
comes  to  our  children,  when  they  hear  of  the  Lord, 
who  is  the  Lord  of  all  people,  that  is, — if  I  may  use 
this  word  in  this  connection, — an  international  God, 
a  God  of  the  entire  humanity,  when  this  God  of 
charity  is  claimed  by  each  nation  for  itself  and  for 
the  war!  I  asked  my  child,  who  had  to  learn  the 
catechism  by  heart  (instruction  in  religion  is  obli- 
gatory in  Prussia.  S.  Z. ) ,  if  the  teacher  always  said : 
"Love  thy  neighbor  as  thyself!"  The  child  an- 
swered: "No,  we  should  not  love  the  Russians, 
Frenchmen  and  Englishmen!"  (Hear,  hear!"  from 
the  Soc.-Dem.)  How  is  that  reconcilable?  The 
most  beautiful  pedagogy  is  that  which  reacts  not 
through  words,  but  through  vision  and  good  example. 
But  what  shall  children  who  are  instructed  in  re- 
ligion say  to  the  occurrences  of  the  present?  Here 
religion  naturally  cannot  become,  as  Christianity  de- 
mands, an  element  penetrating  the  entire  life  and 
determining  each  action,  but  something  entirely  dif- 
ferent. From  this  contrast  you  cannot  escape  and 
least  of  all  when  not  the  religion  of  brotherly 
love  but  that  of  Baal  is  the  religion  of  the  world 
and  when  even  the  children  understand  that  in  this 
war  the  main  point  is  the  Interest  of  capitalist  so- 
ciety. 

One  can  pray  again  and  again  and  still  remain  an 
inciter  of  war.  To-day  an  attempt  Is  made  to  influ- 
ence the  children  of  the  working  people  toward  the 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  107 

conception  of  life  of  the  ruling  class,  of  the  capitalist 
class,  of  the  class  of  exploiters  (shouts  from  the 
right  part  of  the  House)  toward  the  conception  of 
life  of  war  and  mass  killing.  And  how  is  higher 
education  inculcated  in  the  occupied  territories? 
When  the  first  school  was  reopened  in  Belgrade,  a 
paper  published  there  by  the  Austrians  stated  that 
Servia  committed  a  great  sin  when  it  fought  against 
Austria.      (He  could  not  go  any  further.) 

President  Graf  Schwerin-Löwitz:  The  Serv- 
ian schools  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  Budget.  I 
recall  you  to  the  subject. 

Liebknecht  (continuing)  :  The  higher  schools 
are  also  used  as  practical  helpers  in  the  service  of  the 
present  war.  A  systematic  propaganda  is  conducted 
in  them  for  the  war  loans,  and  gold  is  collected  in 
them.  This  militarization  of  the  schools  has  been 
characterized  even  by  some  parts  of  the  bourgeoisie 
as  a  questionable  act.  In  the  schools  they  have  al- 
ready started  to  educate  the  human  beings  up  to 
being  war  machines.  The  schools  are  converted  into 
training  stables  for  the  war.  The  physical  upbuild- 
ing of  the  youth  is  encouraged  now  to  attract  new 
material  for  the  Moloch,  Militarism.  Strengthen- 
ing especially  human  health  has  thus  as  its  aim  the 
destruction  of  human  life.  I  do  not  want  to  ex- 
amine here  how  war  psychology  can  reconcile  itself 
to  the  foundations  of  our  entire  education. 

Now  I  can  speak  only  about  the  higher  schools. 
Mr.  Oelze  demanded  yesterday  that  Militarism 
should  be  introduced  to  greater  extent  in  the  higher 


io8  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

schools,  that  Militarism  should  be  the  all-prevailing 
spirit.  He  (Mr.  Oelze)  defined  Militarism  as  com- 
plete subordination  to  discipline.  According  to  our 
conception  Militarism  means  the  opposite  of  imposed 
discipline.  ("Very  true  !"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  More- 
over, the  military  spirit  has  penetrated  the  school  sys- 
tem to  such  a  high  degree  that  I  don't  know  what  else 
is  left  for  Mr.  Oelze  to  ask  for.  In  committee  it  was 
said  also  in  the  bourgeois  section  that  unilateral 
military  education  leads  to  brutalizing  the  youth. 
But  that  does  not  frighten  you,  when  your  holy  of 
holies,  Militarism,  is  helped.  You  want  liberty  only 
for  the  ruling  classes  and  oppression  for  the  great 
masses.  ("Very  true!"  from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  You 
abhor  the  free  mind  because  it  will  mean  the  twilight 
of  the  gods  of  the  ruling  classes.  Classical  educa- 
tion of  to-day  is  only  a  parody  on  real  classic  edu- 
cation. Classics  surely  do  not  consist  in  driving 
home  languages  and  some  other  knowledge  of  facts, 
but  their  essence  is  the  spirit  of  humanism,  the  spirit 
of  independence,  of  clear  vision,  of.  criticism,  of 
everything  which  is  felt  to  be  harmful.  This  is  the 
real  freedom  of  the  spirit.  The  ideal  of  the  bayo- 
net, of  the  bombshell,  of  poison  gas  and  grenades 
which  are  hurled  down  on  peaceful  cities,  the  ideal 
of  submarine  warfare,  that  is  something  quite  dif- 
ferent. (Uneasiness  and  laughter  from  the  Right 
parties  of  the  House.)  This  is  the  truth  which  I  op- 
pose to  your  endeavors  to  mask  the  reality  of  things. 
According  to  an  edict  of  Governor  von  Schwerin 
of    Frankfort -a-0.,      it    was    ordered    that    the 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  109 

feeling  for  general  fraternization,  for  the  broth- 
erhood of  the  people,  for  the  international  peace  en- 
thusiasm should  be  stamped  out.  ("Hear,  hear!" 
from  the  Soc.-Dem.)  Our  enemies'  deeds  of  shame 
against  the  Germans  must  not  be  excused,  but  only 
hatred  and  revolt  must  be  aroused  from  those  acts. 
We  declare  that  to  be  a  misuse  of  the  schools  of 
the  worst  kind.  That  is  your  spirit  of  humanism. 
Mr.  V.  Canyre  spoke  about  softening  the  bones  of 
ideas  (osteomalacia),  against  which  such  a  propa- 
ganda must  work  in  the  school.  But  if  it  is  true 
that  the  duty  to  tell  the  truth  is  the  aim  of  all  edu- 
cation, then  something  entirely  different  must  be 
taught.  In  school  must  be  taught,  how  this  war 
arose,  not  only  that  the  abominable  murder  of 
Sarajevo  was  an  incident  to  inspire  horror,  but  also 
the  fact  that  the  crime  of  Sarajevo  was  looked  upon 
in  many  circles  as  a  gift  from  Heaven,  serving  them 
as  aj  war  pretext.  (He  could  not  continue.  The 
parties  of  the  Right  side  of  the  House  broke  out  in 
cat-calls  which  became  louder  and  louder.  The  As- 
semblymen had  raised  themselves  from  their  seats  in 
great  excitement  and  left  the  room  with  continual 
shouts:  "Put  him  out,  put  him  out."  Assembly- 
man Liebknecht  shouts  to  them:  "Go  out!  You 
flee  before  the  truth,  you  can't  hear  the  truth!" 

President  Graf  Schwerin-Löwitz  (who  has 
rung  the  bell  for  a  long  time  in  vain)  :  I  call  you  to 
order  for  the  second  time,  and  I  call  your  attention 
to  the  fact  that  in  case  you  are  called  to  order  for 


no  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

a  third  time  I  shall  ask  the  House  if  it  wishes  to  listen 
to  you  further. 

Assemblyman  Liebknecht:  I  have  told  you 
only  what  I  heard  with  my  own  ears. 

The  aim  of  humanistic  education  is  that  of  com- 
plete freedom,  a  high,  ideal  aim.  Out  of  this  spirit, 
great  pedagogues  such  as  Pestalozzi  demanded  the 
unity  of  the  school  system.  The  school  of  to-day 
serves  only  purposes  of  expediency.  This  is 
true  also  of  the  universities.  The  spirit  of  Mili- 
tarism corrodes  the  foundation  of  our  entire  edu- 
cational system.  Art  and  science  also  are  restrained. 
(President  Graf  Schwerin-Löwitz :  Please  speak 
about  the  higher  institutions  of  learning.)  The  sarne 
phenomenon  can  be  noticed  also  in  the  higher  school 
system.  While  it  is  the  task  of  primary  schools  to 
make  the  youth  of  the  proletariat  tools  for  the  cap- 
italistic order  of  society,  it  is  the  task  of  the  higher 
schools  to  prepare  the  youth  of  the  ruling  classes  for 
the  great  work  which  they  have  to  perform  in  present 
society.  In  the  discussion  of  the  question  of  the  ad- 
mission of  foreigners  to  the  schools,  Mr.  v.  Savingy 
declared  in  the  committee  meeting  that  the  admis- 
sion of  foreigners  to  German  schools  before  (this 
war)  was  in  order  to  gain  sympathy  in  foreign  coun- 
tries and  in  that  way  to  obtain  indirectly  political 
and  economic  advantages.  This  is  true  German 
idealism  which  comes  to  light  here. 

On  the  same  level  can  be  placed  the  present  in- 
struction about  the  conditions  in  the  Orient  in  the 
higher  schools.     It  is  being  taught  to  greater  effect 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  iii 

than  before.  Thus  the  higher  schools  also  are  con- 
verted into  an  instrument  of  propaganda  for  eco- 
nomic purposes,  which  are  back  of  this  war. 

This  war,  which  has  destroyed  so  much,  has  also 
destroyed  the  last  vestige  of  the  bourgeois  ideal  of 
education,  and  to  the  surface  came  the  viewpoint  of 
the  pure  utilitarianism  in  education.  The  technical 
quality  of  teaching  is  also  very  much  damaged  by  the 
war.  Just  as  the  Thirty  Years'  War  acted  in  ravag- 
ing and  destroying  in  the  educational  field,  the  pres- 
ent war  is  acting.  (Assemblyman  Hoffman,  Soc- 
Dem. :  "Very  true!")  The  new  method  in  teaching 
history  is  a  sign  of  barbarism,  a  sign  of  the  fight 
to  death  being  fought  by  the  educational  ideal  of  the 
bourgeoisie.  I  spoke  before  about  the  poem  of  Schil- 
ler in  which  it  is  said:  "Only  a  miracle  can  carry 
you  into  the  beautiful  wonderland."  To  the  pro- 
letariat, for  the  unsaved  souls,  this  word  cannot  be 
applied.  No  miracle  and  no  blessing  from  above 
can  bring  the  proletariat  into  the  wonderland,  in 
which  all  the  treasures  and  magnificence  of  the  hu- 
man soul  are  to  be  found.  And  when  Dante's  world- 
epic  speaks  about  those  unsaved  souls  who  live  with- 
out hope  and  longing,  that  is  also  not  true  of  the  pro- 
letariat. It  does  not  live  without  hopes,  but  full  of 
confidence.  But  the  liberation  of  the  working  class 
cannot  come  from  such  motions  as  put  by  you  to-day. 

President  Schwerin-Lövvitz  :  I  call  you  to  the 
question  for  the  second  time  and  call  your  attention 
to  the  consequences  which  may  occur  according  to 
the  rule  of  business. 


112  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Assemblyman  Liebknecht:  I  speak  about  the 
motion,  about  the  chance  of  those  who  are  well  off 
to  attend  high  schools  and  colleges.  This  spiritual 
liberation  can  also  be  the  deed  of  the  working  class 
and  it  is  our  duty  to  say  to  the  working  class  also 
on  this  occasion:  To  action!  Those  in  the  trenches, 
as  well  as  those  here  at  home,  should  put  down 
their  arms  and  turn  against  the  common  enemy, 
which  takes  from  them  light  and  air  (great  dis- 
turbance on  the  right  side  of  the  House). 

President  Graf  Schwerin-Löwitz  :  I  call  you 
to  order  for  the  third  time  and  ask  herewith  whether 
the  House  wishes  to  hear  the  speaker  any  further. 
(Stormy  applause  at  the  right.  The  Assemblymen 
are  rushing  with  great  speed  into  the  House.  Only 
the  Social-Democrats  vote  to  listen  further  to  the 
speaker.  Assemblyman  Liebknecht  leaves  the  speak- 
er's desk  amid  stormy  shouts  from  the  Assembly- 
men of  the  Right.  Assemblyman  Adolf  Hoffman  (ad- 
dressing himself  to  the  right  side  of  the  House)  : 
"When  it  comes  to  yelling,  you  are  the  masters." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  113 


LIEBKNECHT  PROTESTS  AT  BEING  PRE- 
VENTED FROM  DISCUSSING  THE  SUB- 
MARINE WARFARE 

Reichstag,  March  22,  19 16 

President  Kaempf  presides. 

For  discussion :  First  reading  of  the  Budget  in 
connection  witli  the  taxation  bill. 

President  Kaempf:  In  accordance  with  an 
understanding  between  the  representatives  of  the  dif- 
ferent parties  in  the  Reichstag  the  submarine  war- 
fare will  be  excluded  from  this  discussion  until  fur- 
ther decisions  of  the  Seniorenconvent.  (Committee 
composed  of  the  Party  Leaders  to  discuss  the  business 
of  the  Reichstag  before  it  is  discussed  in  open 
session.  S.  Z.)  The  discussion  of  this  question  will 
take  place  in  the  meetings  of  the  Budget  Committee 
in  the  first  days  of  next  week. 

Member  Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  (not  belonging  to 
any  party  in  the  Reichstag,  questions  the  order  of 
business)  :  I  consider  it  my  duty  to  dispute  the  de- 
cision (laughter).  This  is  a  question  which  con- 
cerns most  vitally  the  present  public  interests. 
Everything  is  done  under  cover  and  we  are  brought 
to  discuss  only  accomplished  facts.  (Great  commo- 
tion and  shouts  so  that  the  following  words  of  the 


114  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

speaker  can't  be  understood  very  clearly.)  Very 
soon  it  will  be  Tirpitz  rediviviis.  The  people  have 
a  right  to  hear  the  Parliament  on  this  important 
question  immediately.  The  people  have  a  right  to 
demand  that  nothing  shall  be  hidden  from  them. 

President  Kaempf:  Please  make  your  remarks 
in  a  parliamentary  fashion,  and  don't  present  general 
political  considerations  when  you  speak  to  the  ques- 
tion of  the  order  of  business. 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  In  the  Prussian  Assembly 
everything  is  done  under  cover.  The  same  methods 
of  concealing  matters  obtain  as  here.  (Stormy  in- 
terruptions and  calls :  "This  does  not  belong  to  the 
discussion  about  the  order  of  business.)  I  wish  to 
protest  against  such  a  policy  injurious  to  the  people, 
against  the  continuation  of  secret  diplomacy  in  Par- 
liament. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  115 


REICHSTAG   MEETING,   MARCH   23,    1916 

Discussion  of  the  Budget  and  taxation  bill. 

Different  persons  spoke. 

Dr.  Liebknecht  asks  to  be  recognized  on  the  mo- 
tion of  closing  the  discussion. 

Dr.  Liebknecht  (speaks  to  the  question)  :  I  am 
sorry  that  under  this  motion,  which  was  directed  in 
the  first  place  against  me,  I  will  be  unable  to  say  that 
I  certainly  refuse  all  taxes  to  the  Government  of  mar- 
tial law,  the  government  of  JFar  über  Alles.  (Ex- 
citement at  the  right  side  of  the  House.) 

President  Kaempf:  I  must  ask  you  to  confine 
yourself  to  this  discussion  of  the  order  of  business. 

Member  Dr.  Liebknecht:  I  assert  that  even 
in  the  Prussian  Assembly  there  exists  more  freedom 
of  speech  than  in  this  House.  (Laughter  and  ex- 
citement.) 

President  Kaempf:  If  you  don't  obey  my  orders 
I  will  be  forced  not  to  let  you  talk  any  further  to  the 
question. 

Member  Dr.  Liebknecht:  It  is  also  made  im- 
possible for  me  to  look  into  the  dark  chamber  of 
our  German  war  policies  and  military  dictatorship. 

President  Kaempf  :  I  can't  give  you  the  floor  jFor 
this  question  any  longer. 


ii6  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT'S    COMMENTS    ON    THE 
IMPERIAL  CHANCELLOR'S  SPEECH 

Reichstag  Meeting,  April  5,   19 16 

On  April  5,  19 16,  Karl  Liebknecht  made  some 
sharp  comments  on  certain  passages  of  the  Imperial 
Chancellor's  speech.  Asserting  that  Germany's  aims 
were  peaceful,  the  Chancellor  said  that  Germany 
wanted  the  "strength  of  quiet  development"  before 
the  war.  "We  could  have  had  all  we  wanted  by 
peaceful  labor.  Our  enemies  chose  war."  Lieb- 
knecht retorted:  "Lies,  it  was  you  who  chose  war." 
(Uproar  followed,  with  cries  of  "Scoundrel!" 
"Blackguard!"  "Out  with  him!"  The  President  at 
once  called  Liebknecht  to  order.) 

Later  Bethman-HoUweg  made  reference  to  the 
necessity  of  guarantees  against  Belgium  becoming 
again  a  vassal  of  France  and  England.  "Here  also 
Germany  cannot  give  over  to  Latinization  the  long- 
oppressed  Flemish  race."  Liebknecht  interjected, 
"Hypocrisy!"  "We  desire  to  have  neighbors  who 
will  not  again  unite  against  us  in  order  to  throttle 
us,  but  with  whom  we  can  work  to  our  mutual  ad- 
vantage," said  the  Chancellor.  "Whereupon  you 
suddenly  fall  upon  them  and  strangle  them — the  in- 
vasion of  Belgium,"  said  Liebknecht  coolly.     This 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  117 

sally  caused  another  uproar,  Liebknecht  shouting  out 
"Invasion"  whenever  he  got  the  chance. 

Towards  the  close  of  his  speech  the  Imperial 
Chancellor  declared  that  the  peace  which  ends  this 
war  must  be  a  lasting  peace.  It  must  not  contain  in 
it  the  seeds  of  new  wars,  but  the  seeds  of  a  final 
peaceful  regulation  of  European  affairs.  "Begin  by 
making  the  German  people  free!"  shouted  Lieb- 
knecht. "Germany  is  only  fighting  in  self-defense," 
remarked  the  Chancellor.  "Can  any  one  believe  that 
Germany  is  thirsting  for  territory?"  "Yes,  cer- 
tainly," roared  Liebknecht  as  loudly  as  possible. 
Thereupon  the  uproar  redoubled.  The  President 
had  to  call  the  Reichstag  to  order  to  prevent  per- 
sonal violence  to  Liebknecht. 


ii8  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


REICHSTAG  MEETING,  APRIL  7,  1916 

Vice-President  Paasche  in  the  chair. 

On  April  7,  19 16,  Liebknecht  declared — in  the 
Reichstag  during  the  discussion  of  the  military  esti- 
mates— that  he  had  documents  showing  an  agree- 
ment between  Herr  Zimmerman,  the  Under  Foreign 
Secretary,  and  Sir  Roger  Casement,  by  which  Brit- 
ish prisoners  were  to  be  drilled  to  fight  against  Eng- 
land. After  some  further  remarks  about  Moham- 
medan prisoners  of  war  being  pressed  into  service 
for  Germany,  Liebknecht  was  prevented  from  speak- 
ing amid  shouts  of  "Traitor!"  from  all  parts  of  the 
Chamber. 

Liebknecht  was  able  to  speak  later  about  the  resig- 
nation of  Von  Tirpitz,  but  was  prevented  from  dis- 
cussing the  submarine  campaign.  Here  is  what  he 
said  about  the  resignation  of  Von  Tirpitz: 

"After  the  War  had  begun  with  the  cry  'Against 
Czarism'  the  aim  was  soon  shifted  westward." 
(Vice-President  Paasche:  "To  say  that  the  war  be- 
gan with  one  or  the  other  object  is  to  insult  the  Gov- 
ernment. I  call  you  to  order  and  ask  you  not  to 
dwell  at  any  length  on  our  war  policy.) 

Dr.  Liebknecht:  "After  the  war  aims  had  been 
shifted  westward — (the  Vice-President:  "I  repeat 
my  request").    I  must  touch  on  this  question  if  I  am 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  119 

to  discuss  the  opposing  currents  in  the  Government 
which  brought  about  the  change  in  the  Admiralty. 
The  manner  in  which  the  conflict  was  taken  up  in  the 
Prussian  Diet,  the  way  in  which  the  sharpening  of 
the  war  against  England  was  demanded  in  the  Reich- 
stag on  account  of  the  Baralong  affair,  and  the  scenes 
in  the  Prussian  Diet  before  the  change  of  office,- 
throw  an  interesting  light  on  the  differences  within 
the  Government  and  in  capitalist  circles.  A  memo- 
randum was  to  be  published  on  the  subject  of  armed 
British  merchantmen.  It  was  kept  back  for  some 
length  of  time.  In  this  one  saw  an  acknowl- 
edgment by  the  Government  of  the  demand  for 
a  sharper  submarine  warfare.  The  attack  in  the 
Prussian  Diet  was  made  premeditatedly,  in  order  to 
show  the  strong  opposition  to  certain  members  of  the 
Government  (the  Vice-President  interrupted  the 
speaker)  on  pressure  from  the  Prussian  Diet.  (The 
Vice-President  again  requested  the  speaker  to  keep 
to  the  point.)  You  must  not  suppress  a  most  im- 
portant political  question."  (General  commotion. 
The  Vice-President  again  requested  the  speaker  to 
keep  to  the  point.) 

"I  did  keep  to  the  point.  I  shall  now  discuss  the 
memorandum  on,  the  question  of  armed  merchant- 
men, for  which  the  Admiralty  is  responsible.  It  is 
so  composed  that  those  who  do  not  read  it  care- 
fully with  all  the  supplements  must  be  misled.  The 
memorandum  attempts  to  prove  that  British  mer- 
chantmen are  armed  in  order  to  attack  German  sub- 
marines.    (The  Vice-President  again  forbade  a  dis- 


120  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

cussion  of  the  submarine  question,  and  called  Dr. 
Liebknecht  to  order.)  With  such  a  ruling  I  am  un- 
able—  (The  Vice-President:  "I  ask  the  member  not 
to  criticise  me.")  So  I  am  obliged  to  say  nothing  on 
what  politically  Is  most  material!" 

A  few  days  after  this  scene  in  the  Reichstag  Herr 
Däumig,  the  editor  of  the  Socialist  organ  Vor- 
wärts, sent  a  Hungarian  journalist  with  a  letter  of 
Introduction  to  Dr.  Liebknecht  for  an  interview. 
The  censor  condensed  the  interview,  and  It  only 
reached  Budapest  by  messenger.  The  following  ex- 
tracts are  from  the  suppressed  portion  printed  in  a 
Budapest   (paper)   pamphlet: 

Dr.  Liebknecht  was  greatly  surprised  at  the  visit, 
as  he  had  been  "quite  neglected  by  reporters  nowa- 
days because  what  I  say  Is  generally  considered  'dead 
copy'  by  the  censor." 

The  correspondent  explains  that  it  is  a  mistake  to 
suppose  that  Herr  Liebknecht  Is  as  unpopular  In 
Germany  as  he  appears  to  be  Inside  the  Reichstag. 
He  showed  him  correspondence  from  parts  of  Ger- 
many, a  pile  received  in  two  days  amounting  to  hun- 
dreds and  hundreds  of  letters,  ninety  per  cent  of 
which  are  of  an  encouraging  and  congratulatory 
character.  The  remaining  ten  per  cent  are  scurrilous 
anonymous  attacks,  and  these  he  puts  In  a  separate 
bundle,  which  he  compares  with  great  pride  and  sat- 
isfaction with  the  heap  of  more  flattering  epistles. 

He  Is  overjoyed  at  the  Idea  that  he  is,  after  all, 
not  alone,  as  he  appears  to  be,  and  that  although 
he  is  persecuted  by  his  fellow-members  of  the  Reich- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  121 

stag,  he  is  recompensed  by  the  hearty  congratula- 
tions of  the  people.  What  he  wanted  to  say  in  the 
Reichstag  when  he  was  muzzled  and  expelled  was 
said  by  two  members,  and  he  is  quite  satisfied  on  that 
point. 

"Herr  Davidson,"  said  Liebknecht,  "referred  to 
the  two  cases  I  wanted  to  mention,  and  he  drew  just 
as  vivid  a  picture  of  the  spirit  prevailing  in  the  army 
and  of  the  illegal  persecutions  as  I  should  have  done 
if  I   had  been  allowed. 

"I  wanted  to  call  attention  to  the  case  of  Dr. 
Nicolai,  the  world-famous  professor  at  the  Univer- 
sity of  Berlin,  who  attended  the  Empress  before  the 
war,  and  who  was  persecuted  some  time  ago  by  the 
military  authorities  for  what  were  termed  indiscreet 
utterances.  He  was  appointed  to  the  directorship  of 
two  military  hospitals  at  the  beginning  of  the  war 
at  Graudentz,  but  some  one  reported  him  to  the 
military  authorities  and  he  was  discharged.  On 
March  ist  he  was  again  sent  away  from  Berlin,  this 
time  to  Danzig,  and  was  ordered  to  be  sworn  in  as 
a  soldier.  He  refused  to  obey,  and  as  a  consequence 
the  world-famous  professor  was  degraded  to  the 
status  of  a  private.  Orders  were  given  that  he  was 
not  to  be  allowed  to  provide  his  own  food,  and  he 
was  ordered  to  submit  all  his  scientific  literary  work 
to  the  military  authorities  for  approval. 

"The  same  thing  happened  to  another  scientist, 
who  wrote  in  a  letter:  'I  am  sorry  for  and  disap- 
prove of  the  cruelties  committed  in  Belgium,  and. 


122  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

as  a  good  Christian,  I  regret  and  disapprove  of  the 
terrors  of  this  war.' 

"I  know  for  a  fact  that  the  higher  command  uses 
German  soldiers  to  spy  on  other  German  soldiers,  a 
system  which  brands  soldiers  and  commanders  alike." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  123 


LIEBKNECHT'S  REMARKS  ON  THE  GER- 
MAN WAR  LOAN 

{Reichstag  Meeting,  April  8,  1916) 

Dr.  Liebknecht:  "Gentlemen,  the  principal  work 
of  the  Secretary  of  the  Treasury,  whose  salary  we 
are  asked  to  vote  for,  was  his  activity  for  the  war 
loan  during  the  last  year.  I  intend  to  examine  criti- 
cally those  activities  (great  merriment).  The  new 
loan  has  brought  1,400,000,000  marks  less  than 
the  preceding  one,  but  still  a  grand  total  of  10,000,- 
000,000  marks.  We  should  investigate  carefully 
from  what  funds  the  money  invested  in  the  war 
loan  comes.  Does  this  money  invested  in  the  war  loan 
come  from  private  or  public  funds.  (Cries  of  pro- 
test from  all  sides  of  the  House.  Many  Deputies 
rise  from  their  seats  in  excitement.  Continued  cries : 
"This  is  the  limit !  Shall  we  allow  him  to  go  so  far?" 
Cries  of  "Treason."  "The  fellow  belongs  in  an  in- 
sane asylum.") 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht  clenches  his  fists  and  shouts  a 
few  words  which  cannot  be  understood.  Great  up- 
roar again.  Shouts  of  "Finish!  Finish!"  A  few 
members  of  the  Reichstag  call  out  loudly:  "Mr. 
President,  you  must  preserve  our  rights !"    "Down," 


124  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

from  the  platform !  The  Secretary  of  the  Treasury 
tries  to  calm  a  few  members  of  the  House. 

President  Dr.  Kaempf  :  According  to  the  order 
of  business  the  floor  cannot  be  taken  from  a  member 
of  the  House  until  he  is  called  to  order  three  times. 

Member  Dr.  Müller  Meiningen  (Progress- 
ive Party)  :  "Then  he  will  betray  us  three  times." 
(Stormy  applause  in  the  House  in  which  the  gal- 
leries join.) 

Dr.  K.  Liebknecht:  In  regard  to  our  loans,  It 
has  been  said  that  our  system  of  inbreeding — that 
the  practice  of  obtaining  loans  on  a  former  loan  in 
order  to  invest  the  capital  thus  obtained  in  another 
new  war  loan  is  a  sort  of  "perpetuum  mobile."  In 
a  certain  sense  the  loans  may  be  compared  to  a 
merry-go-round.  To  a  large  extent  it  means  simply 
the  centralization  of  public  wealth  in  the  Treasury. 
(Great  uproar  and  cries  of  "Finish"  and  "Trea- 
son.") I  have  the  right  to  criticise.  The  truth  must 
be  spoken  and  you  shall  not  hinder  me.  (Great  up- 
roar. Member  Hubrich  goes  to  Dr.  Liebknecht  and 
snatches  Liebknecht's  notes  from  his  hands,  and 
throws  them  on  the  floor.  Stormy  applause  in  the 
House  in  which  the  galleries  join.  Liebknecht  raises 
his  clenched  fists  and  shouts.  He  then  addresses  him- 
self to  the  President  in  an  agitated  tone.  He  is  twice 
called  to  order  by  the  President.  Around  the  speak- 
ers' tribune  are  small  and  excited  groups  gesticu- 
lating. Member  Dr.  Müller  Meiningen  goes  to  the 
tribune  and  in  a  violent  tone  hurls  indignant  re- 
proaches at  Liebknecht.    The  minority  Social-Demo- 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  125 

crats  of  the  Reichstag — Henke,  DIttmann  and  Zu- 
beil — rush  to  the  tribune  and  put  themselves  in  front 
of  Liebknecht,  other  members  of  the  House  try  to 
calm  down  the  excited  ones.  The  majority  Social- 
Democrat  Keil  shouts:  "Put  the  fellow  out  and  then 
all  will  be  finished."  The  whole  House  is  in  great 
excitement  and  uproar,  notwithstanding  the  continual 
clang  of  the  presidential  bell.  Finally  the  President 
is  able  to  restore  order,  and  declares  that  the  chair 
finds  that  there  is  no  quorum.  The  meeting  is  ad- 
journed.) 


126  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT'S  MAY  DAY  MANIFESTO 

This  May  Day  Manifesto  called  the  people  of 
Berlin  to  the  May  Day  Demonstration  of  19 16.  He 
was  sentenced  to  jail  for  expressions  in  this  May 
Day  Speech. 

"Poverty  and  misery,  need  and  starvation,  are 
ruling  in  Germany,  Belgium,  Poland  and  Servia, 
whose  blood  the  vampire  of  imperialism  is  sucking 
and  which  resemble  vast  cemeteries.  The  entire 
world,  the  much-praised  European  civilization,  is 
falling  into  ruins  through  the  anarchy  which  has  been 
let  loose  by  the  world  war. 

"Those  who  profit  from  the  war  want  war  with 
the  United  States.  To-morrow,  perhaps,  they  may 
order  us  to  aim  lethal  weapons  against  new  groups 
of  brethren,  against  our  fellow-workers  in  the  United 
States,  and  fight  America,  too.  Consider  well  this 
fact:  As  long  as  the  German  people  does  not  arise 
and  use  force  directed  by  its  own  will,  the  assassina- 
tion of  the  people  will  continue.  Let  thousands  of 
voices  shout  'Down  with  the  shameless  extermina- 
tion of  nations!  Down  with  those  responsible  for 
these  crimes !'  Our  enemy  is  not  the  English,  French, 
nor  Russian  people,  but  the  great  German  landed 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  127 

proprietors,  the  German  capitalists  and  their  execu- 
tive committee. 

"Forward,  let  us  fight  the  government;  let  us  fight 
these  mortal  enemies  of  all  freedom.  Let  us  fight 
for  everything  which  means  the  future  triumph  of 
the  working-classes,  the  future  of  humanity  and  civ- 
ilization. 

"Workers,  comrades,  and  you,  women  of  the  peo- 
ple, let  not  this  festival  of  May,  the  second  during 
the  war,  pass  without  protest  against  the  Imperialist 
Slaughter.  On  the  first  of  May  let  millions  of  voices 
cry,  'Down  with  the  shameful  crime  of  the  extermina- 
tion of  peoples!'  Down  with  those  responsible  for 
the  War  I'" 


128  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 


LIEBKNECHT'S  MAY  DAY,   1916,  SPEECH 

Delivered  at  the  Potsdame?-platz,   Berlin,  May   i, 

1916 

(Report  by  one  present  at  the  demonstration) 

Berlin,  May  i.  Very  early  In  the  morning,  with 
three  other  comrades,  I  reached  Hortenslenstrasse, 
where  Comrade  Liebknecht  lives.  We  enter  No.  14, 
climb  up  the  stairs,  ring  his  bell.  Comrade  Lieb- 
knecht opens  the  door  himself.  He  Is  thin,  his  hair 
looks  unusually  black  and  his  face  is  deathly  pale. 
He  walks  like  a  dead  man,  walking  with  grim  steps. 
He  leaves  us  and  soon  returns  with  his  wife;  she  Is  a 
Russian.  She  nods  welcome  to  us  all.  Suddenly  a 
terrible  fear  comes  to  me.  No  one  has  spoken  a 
word,  yet  we  all  feel  that  we  are  in  the  presence  of 
a  supreme  moment.  From  Comrade  Liebknecht's 
grim  silence  we  judge  that  he  is  about  to  hurl  pru- 
dence to  the  four  winds  and  defy  the  Government. 

He  hands  out,  one  to  each  of  us,  a  copy  of  the 
speech  which  he  will  deliver.  So  far  not  one  word 
has  been  spoken.  While  we  are  hurriedly  reading 
his  speech,  which  Is  to  be  delivered  within  a  few 
hours,  he  remarks,  "I  have  several  thousand  of 
these  printed." 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  12. 

We  have  finished  reading  the  prospectus  which 
will  make  history  and  send  him  to  prison.  Then  we 
go  into  conference.  We  have  been  with  him  just  an 
hour.    We  leave  him. 

Shortly  after  2  P.  M.  of  the  same  May  day, 
I  have  taken  a  hasty  lunch  at  the  Central  Hotel. 
As  I  near  the  door  I  hear  the  footsteps  of  the  great 
multitudes.  As  far  as  I  can  see,  all  the  streets  and 
side  streets  are  full  of  surging,  silently  moving  hu- 
man beings;  all  moving  in  the  direction  where  the 
May  Day  demonstration  is  to  take  place.  These 
are  men  and  women,  mostly  women.  The  men 
among  them  are  mostly  over  fifty.  Suddenly  it  be- 
comes apparent  to  me  that  there  are  more  children 
in  the  crowds  than  men  and  women  together.  As 
they  march  I  notice  that  I  cannot  see  one  in  the 
crowd  who  has  a  smile  on  her  or  his  face.  Along  the 
route  no  one  is  cheering  them.  I  had  never  seen 
such  immense  crowds  In  the  streets  of  Berlin.  Not 
even  during  the  Agadir  crisis  had  the  streets  of  Ber- 
lin held  such  multitudes.  The  crowds  move  as 
though  they  are  part  of  a  funeral  procession.  They 
are  all  sad,  very  sad.  I  recognize  a  group  of  com- 
rades in  the  crowd.  I  rush  in  and  join  them.  Mund 
halten  (keep  your  mouth  shut)  is  the  unwritten  rule, 
and  every  one  seems  to  observe  it  strictly. 

Some  one  has  turned  the  head  of  the  procession 
into  Unter  den  Linden.  We  do  not  know  why;  very 
few  of  us  have  noticed  it,  anyhow.  We  suddenly 
see  a  platoon  of  mounted  guards  dashing  through 
the  crowd,  but  they  are  riding  on  the  sidewalk.    The 


I30  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

part  of  the  procession  that  had  been  marching  on 
the  sidewalk  rushes  to  the  middle  of  the  street  in 
order  to  escape  being  trampled  upon  by  the 
mounted  guards.  Another  group  of  mounted  guards 
rides  past  hurriedly,  and  still  another  follows.  The 
people  in  the  procession  all  about  me  do  not  seem  to 
notice  them.  Not  even  a  whisper  one  hears.  Their 
footsteps  have  a  strange  sound  to  my  ears.  On 
reaching  the  palace  grounds  I  see  in  the  distance  five 
persons.  From  their  elbows  up  they  tower  over  the 
heads  of  the  multitude  surrounding  them.  I  leave 
my  friends  and  elbow  my  way  through  the  thick 
crowd.  I  explain  my  impolite  advance  on  the  ground 
that  I  am  a  reporter  on  a  party  (Socialist)  paper. 
I  finally  reach  the  spot  where  Comrade  Liebknecht 
and  other  comrades  are  standing.  The  crowds  are 
close  where  they  are  standing,  and  I  cannot  make  out 
whether  they  are  standing  on  a  raised  platform  or 
in  a  motor  car.  I  am  about  twenty  or  twenty-five 
feet  from  the  doctor. 

Suddenly  one  of  the  comrades  near  Dr.  Liebknecht 
raises  his  hand  and  at  once  proceeds  to  speak.  The 
multitude  is  anxious  to  hear  him.  Every  one  is 
sounding  "Hush"  in  order  to  obtain  silence  and  thus 
making  more  noise.  Dr.  Liebknecht  uncovers  his 
head;  some  one  near  by  offers  to  reheve  him  of  his 
hat.  Deathly  silence  reigns  all  about  the  grounds. 
The  interior  of  a  cathedral  cannot  be  more  silent. 
The  doctor  begins:  "Comrades  and  friends."  They 
start  to  cheer  him.  He  holds  up  his  hand  forbid- 
dingly, then  he  resumes:  "Some  years  ago  a  witty 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  131 

Socialist  observed  that  in  Prussia  we  Germans  have 
three  cardinal  rights,  which  are :  we  can  be  soldiers, 
we  can  pay  taxes  and  we  can  keep  our  tongues  be- 
tween our  teeth.  The  Socialist  who  made  this  ob- 
servation made  it  with  a  grim  humor,  but  to-day  the 
humor  of  it  must  be  disconnected  from  it — it  is  all 
too  grim.  Especially  in  these  days  this  observation 
is  too  true.  To-day  we  are  sharing  these  three  great 
Prussian  State  privileges  in  full.  Every  German  citi- 
zen is  given  the  full  privilege  to  carry  a  rifle  in  any 
manner.  Even  the  Boy  Scout  has  been  incited  to 
play  the  ridiculous  role  of  a  soldier.  They  have  thus 
planted  the  spirit  of  hate  deep  in  his  youthful  soul. 
Meanwhile  the  old  Landsturmer  is  forced  to  per- 
form forced  labor  in  invaded  countries,  in  spite  of 
the  fact  that  under  the  laws  of  the  Imperial  Con- 
stitution he  cannot  be  called  out  for  any  other  pur- 
pose than  for  the  defense  of  the  Fatherland. 

"As  for  his  second  privilege — his  right  to  pay 
taxes — in  this  respect  the  German  citizen  is,  up  to 
the  present  time,  far  ahead  of  his  brothers  in  for- 
eign lands  whom  he  is  engaged  in  exterminating. 
And  yet  more  privileges  of  this  kind  are  awaiting 
him  in  the  days  to  come — after  the  end  of  the  war. 
The  high  taxes  which  the  German  people  have  so 
far  paid  are  insignificant  compared  to  the  great  bur- 
dens which  they  must  carry  after  the  war,  and  for 
which  their  masters  are  daily  preparing  them  with 
such  touching  delicacy  of  patriotic  sentiment  through 
the  medium  of  the  official  press. 

"The  new  Germany  has  the  unquestionable  right 


132  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

to  hold  its  tongue  between  its  teeth.  Recently  our 
official  press  has  been  flooded  by  authoritative  and 
pharisaic  exhortations  to  soldiers'  wives  that  they 
must,  for  God's  sake,  not  complain  so  much  about 
the  scarcity  of  food.  Keep  your  mouth  shut  tight 
when  hungry.  Keep  your  mouth  shut  tight  when 
your  children  are  hungry,  keep  your  mouth  shut 
when  your  children  want  milk,  keep  your  mouth  shut 
when  your  children  cry  for  bread,  keep  your  mouth 
shut  and  write  no  letters  to  the  front." 

Outside  of  Germany  these  phrases  might  sound 
like  the  stock  phrases  of  a  professional  agitator,  but 
not  so  in  Germany,  at  least  not  in  those  days.  I  care- 
fully watched  for  the  effect  of  these  remarks  all 
about  me,  and  I  saw  no  dry  eyes. 

Amid  tense  silence  the  doctor  continued:  "In  a 
recent  issue  the  mouthpiece  of  the  Pharisees,  the 
"Muenchener  Neueste  Nachrichten,"  complains  thus 
(reading  from  a  clipping)  : 

"  'Our  soldiers  do  not  always  receive  from  their 
dear  ones  at  home  the  best  encouragement  to  hold 
on.  A  soldier  on  furlough  who,  before  obtaining 
leave,  had  performed  for  his  Fatherland  unflinch- 
ingly, went  through  many  hardships  with  good  hu- 
mor, but  after  a  visit  home  returned  to  the  front 
with  a  sad  face,  worrying  day  and  night  about  his 
dear  ones  and  the  pretended  scarcity  at  home.' 

"  'Pretended'  scarcity  certainly  is  palatable,  espe- 
cially when  one  is  reminded  of  the  fact  that  our 
police  is  weighing  the  bread,  that  butter  is  out  of 
the   market,   that   fat,    meat   and   margarine   have 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  133 

reached  a  price  that  is  beyond  the  probable  reach 
of  the  workingman ! 

"Another  well-nourished  Pharisee  exhorts  in  the 
columns  of  the  Norddeutsche  Allgemeine  Zeitung 
by  asking,  'Where  is  scarcity  to  be  found?'  and  no 
doubt  after  having  partaken  of  a  good  dinner  he 
preaches  with  these  words:  'We  must  teach  ourselves 
at  home  how  to  manage  to  get  along  in  our  homes 
with  as  little  as  possible.  But  of  course  in  large 
families  with  children  the  small  earnings  of  the 
breadwinner  being  now  totally  absent,  this  sum  must 
be  replaced  by  the  creation  of  a  relief  fund  so  that 
there  may  not  be  any  serious  want.'  Exactly,  but 
under  no  circumstances  must  the  people  complain  of 
hunger.  It  annoys  the  soldier  terribly  and  cripples 
his  fighting  power.  Therefore  do  not  write  com- 
plaining letters  to  the  front.  In  other  words,  you 
wives  of  soldiers,  hide  the  truth  from  your  hus- 
bands; in  fact,  lie  to  them. 

"The  old  proverb  says,  'The  mouth  speaketh  out 
of  the  fullness  of  the  heart,'  and  if  her  children's 
stomach  is  empty  it  is  hard  for  the  wife  not  to  men- 
tion to  her  far-away  soldier  husband  that  it  is  hard 
to  provide  for  his  children  with  food  while  he  is 
offering  his  life  for  his  country.  But  if  it  is  not  found 
possible  for  your  masters  to  prevail  upon  you  to 
'keep  your  tongue  between  your  teeth,'  then  they  re- 
sort to  a  more  practical  means.  They  have  a  very 
simple  means  of  stopping  these  annoying  complaints. 
The  Prussian  censor  is  now  supervising  these  letters 
of  wives  at  home  to  their  husbands  at  the  front. 


134  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

They  simply  do  not  allow  this  objectionable  corre- 
spondence to  go  through.  Poor  and  unfortunate 
German  soldier  1  He  deserves  pity  I  At  the  com- 
mand of  the  militarist  Government  he  has  gone  into 
the  enemy  country,  and  at  the  command  of  the  Gov- 
ernment he  must  steal  from  other  nations.  He  is 
required  to  perform  difficult  services.  The  sufferings 
that  he  endures  are  past  description.  About  him 
everywhere  shells  and  bombs  sow  death  and  destruc- 
tion. His  wife  and  children  at  home  are  suffering 
want  and  hardship;  she  looks  about  her  and  finds 
her  children  crying  for  bread.  She  is  desperate,  but 
she  must  not  appeal  or  complain  to  any  one.  She 
must  hold  her  tongue  and  suffer  inwardly.  But  how 
can  she  silence  her  children?  She  must  not  even 
share  the  sympathy  of  her  husband  at  the  front,  be- 
cause that  cripples  her  soldier  husband's  fighting 
powers.  Her  soldier  husband  must  'hold  on'  and 
'steal'  in  the  land  of  her  neighbors.  He  must  hold 
on  and  'suffer'  because  the  capitalists,  the  hurrah 
patriots  and  the  armor-plate  kings  have  willed  it  so. 
Every  one  must  keep  his  or  her  tongue  between  the 
teeth,  for  the  war  profiteers  must  make  money  out 
of  the  want  and  misery  of  the  wives  and  their  hus- 
band  soldiers   at  the   front. 

"By  a  lie  the  German  workingman  was  forced 
into  the  war,  and  by  like  lies  they  expect  to  induce 
him  to  go  on  with  warl"  A  mighty  shout  went  up 
from  a  thousand  throats — "Hurrah  for  Liebknecht." 
Liebknecht  raised  his  hand  for  silence.  Then  stead- 
ily, though  knowing  the  cost,  he  said:  "Do  not  shout 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  135 

for  me,  shout  rather  'We  will  have  no  more  war. 
We  will  have  peace — nowl'  " 

Scarcely  had  he  finished  speaking  when,  as  if  by 
magic,  a  tremendous  tumult  arose.  Near  the  spot 
where  the  doctor  and  his  friends  had  been  stand- 
ing the  crowds  surged  back  and  forth.  The 
great  multitudes  in  the  palace  grounds  had  the 
appearance  of  an  immense  sea  whose  surface  was 
every  inch  covered  with  human  heads,  those  of  men 
and  women.  The  children  became  terrified.  The 
shouts  of  the  grown-ups  and  the  terrified  shrieks  of 
the  children  added  vehemence  to  the  scene.  The 
next  moment  I  see  Comrade  Liebknecht  pulled  down 
from  the  stand.  His  friends  also  follow.  Then  I 
see  fists  raised.  I  suddenly  discover  that  the  jostling 
of  the  crowds  about  me  has  carried  me  further  away 
from  the  spot  where  a  riot  is  in  progress.  I  again 
elbow  my  way  toward  where  the  doctor  and  his  com- 
panions have  been  pulled  down  from  the  stand.  I 
had  made  some  progress  when  suddenly  I  find  my- 
self being  swept  backward  by  a  huge  human  wave. 

In  spite  of  my  wish  to  see  what  is  going  on  be- 
hind me  I  am  being  carried  away  further  and  fur- 
ther. Several  hundred  thousand  panic-stricken  souls 
are  rushing  towards  the  streets  and  avenues  that  lead 
to  the  grounds.  The  scene  is  frightful.  Every  one 
is  shouting.  I  steal  a  glimpse  of  the  spot  which  is 
now  the  center  of  the  sudden  panic.  I  gasp  with 
fright.  I  see  numberless  mounted  soldiers  with  large 
black  whips  in  their  hands  lashing  the  crowds.  Their 
mounts  are  so  close  to  the  struggling  and  frightened 


136  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

men  and  women,  yea,  even  children,  that  it  is  a  mir- 
acle that  thousands  are  not  pinned  to  the  ground. 
I  cannot  tell  whether  they  are  killed  or  whether  they 
fainted.  But  there  are  many  of  them.  I  myself  was 
forced  to  step  over  several  persons.  I  tried  to  lift 
up  a  body,  but  in  the  next  moment  I  was  carried 
away.  .  .  . 

May  Day  evening.     Twenty-five  or  thirty  meet 

secretly  at  the  home  of  a  comrade  in street. 

We  all  know  what  the  report  is.  Herr  Doctor  is 
arrested.  We  are  all  sad,  very  sad.  We  have  met 
to  exchange  views  as  to  what  step  to  take  next. 
Every  one  is  laboring  with  heavy  thoughts  within 
himself.  The  silence  is  sickening.  With  the  excep- 
tion of  four  the  men  who  come  together  to  exchange 
views  are  all  soldiers  in  the  active  army.  Not  all 
of  them  are  privates.  We  have  spent  the  entire 
night,  sometimes  in  heavy  silence  and  again  in  de-, 

liberation.     It  is  decided  that  we 

.    Are    the    German   workingmen    thinking? 


Their  present  thoughts  are  tragic.    They  hurt. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  137 


LIEBKNECHT'S  REPLY  TO  HIS  JUDGES 

While  in  prison  Dr.  Liebknecht  sent  two  let- 
ters to  the  military  court  handling  his  case,  in  which 
he  explained  his  position.  It  was  Dr.  Liebknecht's 
hope  that  these  letters  would  be  read  to  the  Reich- 
stag and  in  that  way  reach  the  German  people.  But 
this  was  not  the  case.  The  letters  were  put  before 
the  Parliamentary  Committee,  which  investigated 
Liebknecht's  case  and  on  whose  recommendation  the 
Reichstag,  by  a  vote  of  229  to  iii,  refused  to  ask 
for  his  release,  A  copy  of  one  of  these  letters  was 
smuggled  out  of  prison  and  sent  out  of  Germany. 

Berlin,   May  3rd,    19 16. 
To  the  Royal  Military  Court,  Berlin: 

In  the  investigation  of  the  case  against  me,  the 
records  of  remarks  need  the  following  elucidation: 

I.  The  German  Government  is  in  its  social  and 
historical  character  an  instrument  for  the  crushing 
down  and  exploitation  of  the  laboring  classes;  at 
home  and  abroad  it  serves  the  Interests  of  junkerism, 
of  capitalism,  and  of  imperialism. 

The  German  Government  is  a  reckless  champion 
of  expansion  in  world  politics,  the  most  ardent  pro- 
moter  in   the   competition   of   armaments,    and   ac- 


138  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

cordingly  one  of  the  most  powerful  Influences  in  de- 
veloping the  causes  of  the  present  war. 

In  partnership  with  the  Austrian  Government  the 
German  Government  contrived  to  bring  about  this 
war  and  so  burdened  itself  with  the  greatest  respon- 
sibility for  the  immediate  outbreak  of  the  war. 

The  German  Government  started  the  war  under 
cover  of  deception  practiced  upon  the  common  peo- 
ple and  even  upon  the  Reichstag  (compare,  among 
other  things,  the  concealment  of  the  ultimatum  to 
Belgium,  the  make-up  of  the  German  White  Book, 
the  ehmination  of  the  Czar's  dispatch  of  July  29, 
1914) ,  and  it  tries  by  reprehensible  means  to  keep  up 
the  war  spirit  among  the  people. 

It  carries  on  the  war  with  methods  that,  judged 
even  by  standards  hitherto  conventional,  are  mon- 
strous. The  Invasion  of  Belgium  and  Luxemburg, 
poisonous  gases,  which  in  the  meantime  have  be- 
come of  common  use  by  all  the  belligerents,  and  then 
look  at  the  Zeppelin  bombs,  which  outdo  everything 
and  which  are  Intended  to  kill  all  that  live,  com- 
batants or  non-combatants,  within  a  wide  region; 
submarine  commerce  warfare ;  the  torpedoing  of  the 
Lusitania,  etc. ;  the  system  of  hostages  and  forced 
contributions  at  the  beginning,  especially  in  Belgium; 
the  systematic  entrapping  of  Ukrainian,  Georgian, 
Baltic  Provincials,  Polish,  Irish,  Mohammedan,  and 
other  prisoners  of  war  In  the  German  prison  camps 
for  the  purpose  of  having  them  do  treasonable  war 
service  and  treasonable  spying  for  the  Central  Pow- 
ers; Under-Secretary  Zimmerman's  agreement  with 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  139 

Sir  Roger  Casement  in  December,  19 14,  regarding 
the  organization,  equipment,  and  training  in  the 
German  prison  camps  of  the  "Irish  Brigade,"  com- 
posed of  captured  British  soldiers;  the  attempts  by 
means  of  threats  of  forcible  interment  to  compel 
Christians  of  a  hostile  nationality  found  in  Germany 
to  do  treasonable  war  service  against  their  countries, 
and  so  forth.     (Necessity  knows  no  law!) 

The  German  Government  has,  through  the  es- 
tablishment of  martial  law,  enormously  increased  the 
political  lawlessness  and  economic  exploitations  of 
the  people;  it  refuses  all  serious  political  and  social 
reforms,  while  at  the  same  time  it  tries  to  hold  the 
people  docile  for  the  imperialistic  war  policy,  by 
means  of  rhetorical  phrases  about  equal  rights  ac- 
corded to  all  parties,  about  alleged  discontinuation 
of  discriminations  in  social  and  political  matters, 
about  an  alleged  readjustment  and  new  direction  of 
political  matters,  and  so  on. 

The  German  Government  because  of  its  consid- 
eration for  agrarian  and  capitalists'  Interests  has 
completely  failed  to  care  for  the  economic  welfare 
of  the  people  during  the  war,  to  guard  against  misery 
and  the  practice  of  revolting  extortion  upon  the  peo- 
ple. 

The  German  Government  Is  still  holding  fast  to 
its  war  aims  and  so  constitutes  the  chief  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  immediate  peace  negotiations  upon  the 
basis  of  renunciation  of  annexations  and  oppres- 
sions of  all  sorts :  Through  the  maintenance — in  it- 
self illegal — of  marüal  law  (censorship,  etc.)  it  pre- 


140  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

vents  the  public  from  learning  unpleasant  facts  and 
prevents  Socialist  criticism  of  its  measures.  The 
German  Government  thereby  reveals  its  system  of 
seeming  legality  and  sham  popularity  as  a  system  of 
actual  force,  of  genuine  hostility  to  the  people  and 
bad  faith  as  regards  the  masses. 

The  cry  of  "Down  with  the  Government!"  is 
meant  to  brand  this  entire  policy  of  the  Government 
as  fatal  to  the  masses  of  the  people. 

This  cry  also  indicates  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every 
representative  of  the  welfare  of  the  proletariat  to 
wage  a  struggle  of  the  most  strenuous  character — 
the  class  struggle — against  the  Government. 

II.  The  present  war  is  not  a  war  for  the  defense 
of  the  national  integrity,  not  for  the  liberation  of 
oppressed  peoples,  not  for  the  welfare  of  the  masses. 

From  the  standpoint  of  the  proletariat  this  war 
only  signifies  the  most  extreme  concentration  and 
extension  of  political  suppression,  of  economic  ex- 
ploitation, and  of  military  slaughtering  of  the  work- 
ing-class body  and  soul  for  the  benefit  of  capitalism 
and  of  absolutism. 

To  all  this  the  working-class  of  all  countries  can 
give  but  one  answer:  a  harder  struggle,  the  inter- 
national class  struggle  against  the  capitalist  Govern- 
ments and  the  ruling  classes  of  all  countries  for  the 
abolition  of  all  oppression  and  exploitation  by  the 
institution  of  a  peace  conceived  in  the  Socialist  spirit. 
In  this  class  struggle  the  Socialist,  whose  Fatherland 
Is  the  International,  finds  included  the  defense  of 
everything  that  he,  as  a  Socialist,  Is  bound  to  defend. 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  141 

The  cry  of  "Down  with  war"  signifies  that  I  thor- 
oughly condemn  and  oppose  the  present  war  because 
of  its  historical  nature,  because  of  its  general  social 
causes  and  specific  way  in  which  it  originated  (de- 
veloped), and  because  of  the  way  it  is  being  carried 
on  and  the  objects  for  which  it  is  being  waged.  That 
cry  signifies  that  it  is  the  duty  of  every  representa- 
tive of  proletarian  interests  to  take  part  in  the  inter- 
national class  struggle  for  the  purpose  of  ending  the 
war. 

III.  As  a  Socialist  I  am  fundamentally  opposed  to 
the  existing  military  system  as  well  as  of  this  war, 
and  I  always  supported  with  all  my  power  the  fight 
against  Militarism  as  an  especially  important  task 
and  a  matter  of  life  and  death  for  the  working-class 
of  all  countries.  (Compare  my  book  "Militarism" 
and  my  reports  to  the  International  Young  People's 
Conferences  at  Stuttgart,  1907,  and  Copenhagen, 
1910.)  The  war  demands  that  we  carry  on  the 
struggle  against  Militarism  with  redoubled  energy. 

IV.  Since  1889  May  ist  has  been  consecrated  to 
manifestations  and  propaganda  in  favor  of  the  great 
basic  principles  of  Socialism,  against  all  exploitation, 
oppression,  and  violence;  dedicated  to  propaganda 
for  the  solidarity  of  workers  of  all  countries — a  soli- 
darity which  the  war  has  not  abolished,  but  strength- 
ened— against  the  workers'  fratricidal  strife,  for 
peace  and  against  war. 

During  the  war  the  manifestation  and  propaganda 
of  these  principles  is  a  doubly  sacred  duty  imposed 
upon  every  Socialist. 


142  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

V.  The  policy  advocated  by  me  was  outlined  in 
the  resolution  adopted  by  the  International  Socialist 
Congress  held  in  Stuttgart  (1907),  which  pledged 
Socialists  of  all  countries — after  they  should  have 
failed  to  prevent  a  war — to  work  with  all  their  ener- 
gies towards  its  quick  ending,  and  to  take  advantage 
of  the  conditions  created  by  the  war  for  hastening  the 
abolition  of  the  capitalist  order  of  society. 

This  Socialist  policy  is  meant  to  be  international, 
even  in  its  ultimate  consequences.  It  imposes  upon 
the  Socialists  of  other  countries  the  same  obligation 
with  reference  to  their  Governments  and  ruling 
classes  that  I  with  others  in  Germany  followed 
against  the  Government  and  ruling  classes  of  Ger- 
many. 

This  Socialist  policy  has  an  international  effect,  by 
spreading  reciprocal  encouragement  from  nation  to 
nation;  it  promotes  the  international  class  struggle 
against  war. 

Since  the  beginning  of  the  war  I,  together  with 
others,  have  defended  in  every  possible  way  and  up- 
held in  the  most  public  manner  this  Socialist  policy, 
and  besides,  so  far  as  possible,  have  entered  into 
connections  with  those  who  shared  my  sentiments  in 
other  countries. 

(I  may  mention,  for  example,  my  journey  to  Bel- 
gium and  Holland  in  September,  19 14;  my  Christ- 
mas letter  in  19 14  to  the  Labor  Leader;  the  Inter- 
national Socialist  Meetings  in  Switzerland,  in  which, 
I  regret  to  say,  I  was  unable  to  participate  personally, 
being  prevented  by  superior  powers,  etc.) 


TO  THE  PEOPLE  143 

VI.  This  policy  to  which,  cost  it  what  it  may,  I 
shall  hold  fast,  is  not  mine  alone,  but  it  is  also  the 
policy  of  an  ever-increasing  proportion  of  the  people 
in  Germany  and  of  the  other  belligerent  and  neutral 
States.  It  will  soon  become,  as  I  hope — and  to  this 
end  I  am  resolved  to  toil  on — the  policy  of  the  work- 
ing-class of  all  countries,  which  will  then  possess  the 
power  to  break  the  imperialistic  will  of  the  ruling 
classes,  and  to  shape  as  may  seem  best  the  mutual  re- 
lations and  conditions  of  the  people  for  the  benefit 
of  all  mankind. 

Karl  Liebknecht, 
Armierungssoldat. 


LIEBKNECHT'S  TRIAL  AND  RELEASE 

On  June  28th,  19 1 6,  Karl  Liebknecht  was  sen- 
tenced at  secret  trial  to  thirty  months'  penal  servi- 
tude. When  the  public  prosecutor  asked  for  this 
secrecy,  Liebknecht  exclaimed: 

"It  is  cowardice  on  your  part,  gentlemen.  Yes, 
I  repeat,  that  you  are  cowards  if  you  close  these 
doors." 

Nevertheless,  the  court  decided  to  exclude  the  pub- 
lic, upon  which  Liebknecht  cried  to  his  wife  and 
Rosa  Luxemburg,  in  the  audience,  "Leave  this  com- 
edy, where  everything,  including  even  the  decision, 
has  been  prepared  beforehand." 

Following  the  announcement  of  the  sentence  given 


144  THE  FUTURE  BELONGS 

Liebknecht,  the  Potsdamerplatz  in  Berlin  was  the 
scene  of  a  serious  outbreak. 

The  next  day  (according  to  reports  from  Switzer- 
land) strikes  of  protest  against  the  Liebknecht  case 
took  place  in  Berlin  and  some  55,000  persons  were 
involved  in  them.  In  other  cities  strikes  and  dem- 
onstrations of  protest  also  took  place. 

An  appeal  was  taken  but  resulted  only  in  an  In- 
crease in  the  sentence  to  four  years'  and  one  month's 
imprisonment  at  hard  labor.  Furthermore,  he  was 
deprived  of  all  his  civil  rights  for  a  period  of  six 
years  after  he  should  have  served  his  term. 

[Associated  Press  Dispatch] 

Paris,  October  25. — An  enormous  crowd  assem- 
bled before  the  Reichstag  building  in  Berlin  yester- 
day, calling  for  the  abdication  of  Emperor  William 
and  the  formation  of  a  republic,  according  to  a  spe- 
cial dispatch  from  Zurich  to  L'Information. 

Dr.  Karl  Liebknecht,  the  Socialist  leader  who  has 
just  been  released  from  prison,  was  applauded  fran- 
tically. He  was  compelled  to  enter  a  carriage  filled 
with  flowers  from  which  he  made  a  speech  declaring 
that  the  time  of  the  people  had  arrived. 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America. 


THE  following  pages  contain  advertisements  of  a 
few  of  the  Macmillan  books  on  kindred  subjects. 


The  End  of  the  War 

BY  WALTER  E.  WEYL 
Author  of  "American  World  Policies,"  "The  New  Democracy,"  etc. 

$2.00 

"The  most  courageous  book  on  politics  published  in  America  since 
the  war  began." — The  Dial. 

"An  absorbingly  interesting  book  .  .  .  the  clearest  statement  yet 
presented  of  a  most  difficult  problem." — Philadelphia  Ledger. 

"Mr.  Weyl  says  sobering  and  important  things.  .  .  .  His  plea  is  strong 
and  clear  for  America  to  begin  to  establish  her  leadership  of  the  demo- 
cratic forces  of  the  world  ...  to  insure  that  the  settlement  of  the  war 
is  made  on  lines  that  will  produce  international  amity  everywhere." 

— N.  Y.  Times. 


The  New  Democracy 


AN  ESSAY  ON  CERTAIN  POLITICAL  AND  ECONOMIC 
TENDENCIES  IN  THE  UNITED  STATES 

Cloth,  $2.00 
"A  masterly,  scathing,  and  absolutely  fearless  arraignment  of  things 
that  ought  not  to  be  in  a  republic,  and  of  tendencies  that  no  democracy 
ought  to  tolerate." — Boston  Herald. 

"A  thoughtful  volume  ...  a  big  synthesis  of  the  whole  social  problem 
in  this  country.    A  keen  survey." — Chicago  Evening  Post. 

"A  searching  and  suggestive  study  of  American  life.  ...  A  book 
to  make  people  think  .  .  .  Notable  for  its  scholarship  and  brilliant 
in  execution,  it  is  not  merely  for  the  theorist,  but  for  the  citizen." 

— Newark  Evening  News. 

American  World  Policies  ,,,„,^  3^  ^^ 

"It  is  refreshing  to  read  Dr.  Weyl  ...  his  approach  to  the  problem 
is  absolutely  sound  and  right." — The  Dial. 

"An  economic  philosophy  neatly  balanced,  suavely  expressed,  and  of 
finely  elastic  fibre." — New  York  Sun. 


THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers      64-66  Fifth  Avenue      New  York 


THE  WORKS  OF  H.  H.  POWERS,  Ph.D. 


The  Great  Peace 

"A  clear,  frank  statement  of  the  problems  confronting  the  nations 
of  the  world  and  how  those  problems  must  be  faced  to  insure  a  lasting 
peace.     (Ready  Shortly.) 

America  among  the  Nations 

Cloth,  $1.50 
"For  an  understanding  of  this  new  crisis  that  we  are  facing  in  1918 
we  know  of  no  book  more  useful  or  more  searching  or  clearer  or  more 
readable  than  H.  H.  Powers'  'America  among  the  Nations.'  It  is 
really  a  biography,  or  rather,  a  biographical  study.  Its  hero,  however, 
is  not  a  man  but  an  imperial  people." — Outlook,  New  York. 

"Mr.  Powers  takes  unusually  broad  views  and  they  are  enforced 
by  a  historical  knowledge  and  a  logical  development  of  ideas  that 
carry  conviction.  .  .  .  An  excellent  book." — Philadelphia  Public  Ledger. 

The  Things  Men  Fight  For 

Cloth,  $1.50 
"An  able,  unprejudiced  and  illuminating  treatment  of  a  burning 
question." — Philadelphia  North  American. 

"Probably  no  other  book  dealing  with  the  war  and  its  sources  has 
made  so  dispassionate  and  unbiased  a  study  of  conditions  and  causes 
as  does  this  volume." — New  York  Times. 

"Out  of  the  unusual  knowledge  born  of  wide  observation  and  ex- 
perience came  this  unusual  book.  We  may  not  altogether  agree  with 
its  conclusions,  but  we  must  admire  the  breadth  of  it,  and  feel  better 
informed  when  we  have  perused  it.  The  liberal  spirit  of  it  cannot 
fail  to  impress  the  careful  reader." — Literary  Digest. 


THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers      64-66  Fifth  Avenue     New  York 


ERNEST   POOLE'S   NEW   BOOK 

The  Village :  Russian  Impressions 

BY  ERNEST  POOLE 

Illustrated.    Cloth,  $1.50 

This  volume  describes  in  personal  and  narrative  form  Mr.  Poole's 
visit  to  the  small  estate  of  an  old  Russian  friend,  whose  home  was  a 
rough  log  cabin  in  the  North  of  Russia.  From  there  he  ranged  the 
neighborhood  in  company  with  his  friend,  talking  with  peasants  in 
their  huts;  with  the  vagabonds  camped  at  night  on  the  riverside;  with 
the  man  who  kept  the  village  store;  with  the  priest,  the  doctor  and 
the  school  teacher,  as  well  as  with  the  saw-mill  owner. 

Their  views  of  the  war,  the  revolution  and  American  friendship  are 
all  of  great  significance  now,  for  the  peasants  form  nearly  ninety  per 
cent,  of  the  Russian  people. 

"The  Dark  People":  Russia's  Crisis 

BY  ERNEST  POOLE 
Author  of  '■'His  Family,"  "The  Harhor,"  etc. 

Cloth,  i2mo,  $1.50 
"Too  strange,  too  romantic,  too  imaginative,  to  be  anything  but 
sober  truth.  .  .  .  We  have  read  no  book  which  got  closer  to  the  heart 
...  of  the  Russian  people." — N.  Y.  Tribune. 

"A  valuable  book,  .  .  .  sane  and  informative,  .  .  .  shows  close  study 
by  an  impartial  mind."— iV.  Y.  Herald. 

"We  have  never  read  a  book  more  deeply  thrilling.  It  is  not  the 
book  of  a  dreamer,  but  of  one  whose  vision  is  far  because  his  heart 
beats  for  his  fellowmen.  .  .  ." — Book  Review. 

"A  sincere,  unpretentious,  and  strikingly  successful  attempt  to  get 
at  the  mind  and  heart  of  these  people  in  the  midst  of  revolution." 

— N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

Inside  the  Russian  Revolution 

BY  RHETA  CHILDE  DORR 

Illustrated.  Cloth,  $1.50 
"Mrs.  Dorr's  book  is  an  excellent  piece  of  reporting.  It  will  be 
the  exceptional  reader  who  will  not  find  here  what  he  would  most  like 
to  get  from  an  American  visitor  who  has  had  exceptional  opportunities 
to  learn  the  truth.  Her  book  will  have  to  be  consulted  by  the  future 
historian  of  anarchy's  reign  in  Russia." — Springfield  Republican. 

"As  a  distinctively  first-hand  study  of  a  world  event  of  illimitable 
influence  and  implications,  this  volume  is  a  milestone  along  the  path- 
way of  history." — Philadelphia  North  American. 

THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers      64-66  Fifth  Avenue      New  York 


The  Flaming  Crucible 

BY  ANDRE  FRIBOURG 
Translated  by  A.  B.  Maurice  ,» 

$1.^0 

Under  the  title  Croire,  this  autobiography  of  a  French  infantryman 
was  published  in  Paris  in  191 7.  It  is  a  revelation  of  the  French  spirit. 
It  is  rather  a  biography  of  the  spirit,  than  an  account  of  the  amazing 
experiences  M.  Fribourg  encountered,  from  191 1  at  Agadir,  through  the 
fighting  on  the  Meuse,  and  part  of  the  campaign  in  Flanders.  The  de- 
scriptions are  memorable  for  their  beautiful  style,  their  pathos  or  their 
elevation.  There  is  a  definite  climax  toward  the  end  where  M.  Fri- 
bourg returns  to  a  hospital  in  Paris,  broken  and  dulled,  his  faith  mo- 
mentarily befogged.  Gradually  he  readapts  himself,  regains  and  con- 
firms his  faith  in  the  human  spirit  that  was  so  vivid  when  he  lived 
with  his  fellow  soldiers. 

Behind  the  Battle  Line 

BY  MADELINE  Z.  DOTY 

Cloth,  $1.25 
What  are  the  women  of  the  world  planning  for  the  future?  To  find 
that  out,  Miss  Doty  made  a  trip  around  the  world.  She  takes  you 
into  the  heart  of  each  nation  she  visited — Japan,  China,  Russia,  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  England  and  France.  The  differences  in  civilization  are 
vividly  shown,  mainly  through  the  daily  thought  and  life  of  the  women. 
Behind  the  Battle  Line:  Around  the  World  in  igi8,  depicts  the  great 
spiritual  struggle  that,  beside  the  physical  battle,  engulfs  the  world. 


The  War  and  the  Future 


BY  JOHN  MASEFIELD 

Author  of  " Gallipoli,"  "The  Old  Front  Line,"  etc. 

Cloth,  $1.25 
"It  was  well  to  reprint  these  lectures,  and  it  will  be  well  for  the  book 
to  have  the  widest  possible  reading  and  permanent  preservation  for  re- 
reading. .  .  .  No  man  in  the  world  to-day  has  a  more  searching,  accu- 
rate, and  divinely  just  spiritual  vision  of  the  war  and  of  the  issues 
involved  in  it.  .  .  .  If  ever  a  book  was  inspired,  this  was." 

—N.  Y.  Tribune. 

THE   MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

Publishers      64-66  Fifth  Avenue     New  York 


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